


Young Zoey

by LucielleintheSky1987



Category: Distorted Diesels by Missluckychan29, Young Zoey by Missluckychan29
Genre: Canadian Pacific, Lesbianism, Other, Sentient Trains, Trains, Winnipeg, historical fiction - Freeform, tw// transphobia in some chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 45,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23894377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucielleintheSky1987/pseuds/LucielleintheSky1987
Summary: This series chronicles Zoey the GP30 when she was still fairly new, as she learns to be a young lady.You see, sometimes when engines are built, the factory builds them wrong, and in Zoey's case, she was built AMAB.When she came out, despite it being 1963, she still was treated with respect by most.Come along and read about Zoey before she was the compassionate and leaderly CEO of BUNXAnarchism- Zoey and Jackie in this story were built in 1961 vs the actual GMD GP30s being built in 1963, 1963 being when this story takes place





	1. Character Designs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anarchism- Zoey and Jackie in this story were built in 1961 vs the actual GMD GP30s being built in 1963, 1963 being when this story takes place

Character Designs:

Mind you some images contain spoilers

Zoey:

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Young-Zoey-Art-Vintage-Memes-829575925>

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/QuickDoodle-Two-Small-GMD-Sisters-825412055>

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Young-Zoey-in-her-Sunday-Tea-outfit-826411754>

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Quick-Drawing-Young-Zoey-in-Overall-Dress-829623734>

<https://sta.sh/027ozbjrtejr>

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Pride-2020-Young-Zoey-true-form-844798664>

Zoey and her sisters:

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Three-Little-Ladies-838183779>

Jackie:

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/QuickDoodle-Two-Small-GMD-Sisters-825412055>

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Jackie-s-Sunday-Tea-Dress-833863560>

Penelope:

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Young-Penelope-GN3001-833977275>

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Penelope-the-EMD-GP30-834104704>

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Precious-Pink-Penelope-838183381>

Lucy:

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Lucy-in-Lottie-s-Old-Dress-837387661>

Marina:

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/A-Page-of-Marina-829576819>

Christina:

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Christina-the-Consolidation-833863531>

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Human-Form-Christina-the-Consolidation-833863513>

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Christina-s-Other-Outfits-833863542>

Mildred and Sandra:

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/Young-Zoey-Mildred-and-Sandra-in-the-60s-829017783>

Lottie:

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-Lottie-the-Royal-Hudson-CP2828-829576189>

<https://sta.sh/0149899vtu49> (ignore the socks, those don't appear until her appearances in Distorted Diesels (aka modern era))

<https://www.deviantart.com/missluckychan29/art/YZ-True-Form-Lottie-the-Royal-Hudson-847637812>


	2. How Zoey Came to Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This series chronicles Zoey the GP30 when she was still fairly new, as she learns to be a young lady.  
> You see, sometimes when engines are built, the factory builds them wrong, and in Zoey's case, she was built AMAB.  
> When she came out, despite it being 1963, she still was treated with respect by most.
> 
> Come along and read about Zoey before she was the compassionate and leaderly CEO of BUNX
> 
> Just kind of a story looking back on Canada's second and last GP30 and the one driver who believed in her during the 60s that seemed to aid in enforcing gender roles
> 
> Zoey is a part of me, so Zoey the GMD GP30 is the trainsona of Zoey.
> 
> Anarchism- Zoey and Jackie in this story were built in 1961 vs the actual GMD GP30s being built in 1963, 1963 being when this story takes place

Yet another glorious morning at Canadian Pacific had arrived, as all the diesels were up and working proudly along side the few remaining steam engines.  
Most of the engines were all smiles, happy because of all the working togethers.

Except for one. A GP30, separated from their sibling for the day, who normally would hide behind the diesel numbered 8200 due to 8201 not having much bravery yet since something weighed on the younger diesel.

William Johnson, the usual driver for this young GMD diesel, approached the little diesel with a smile on his face and a friendly, "Good morning, Joe!"

The diesel winced at this name internally but greeted back politely, "Morning, Bill. What's on the docket for today?"

The lanky man in his overalls hopped up onto the catwalk of the rounded cab diesel and remarked, "Management said you're not wanting to work today because you're not feeling right. Right?"

The flood gates opened as the young one explained, "... Bill... for two years now... I've been content as who the factory labelled me... But... when spring arrived, I started thinking... Maybe the factory built me wrong."

Now most drivers would hush and quell their engines with a simple, 'it's in your head, kid', and the bespectacled brown eyed diesel expected this reaction, but instead the driver asked, "Like as in the wrong diesel type?"

"No... wish I could've asked them for a puella gear once I was awake but nearly done... I'm not happy, Bill..." the diesel remarked, fighting back tears. The diesel's voice, still young enough to not be determinable as a specific gender waivered as they added, "I don't want to be a boy."

The engineer patted the side of the GP30's hood reassuringly and soothed, "There, there... Is... is there anything I can do to make you feel more happy?"

The diesel thought for a bit, worried to say it, a little scared what would happen. They mustered up the courage and asked in a very delicate and worried voice, "C-Could... Could you ask management to change my name?"  
"Say that GMD made a mistake... Please... I... I want to be Zoey..."

William was baffled, "Why such a Greek name?"

The diesel wanting to be called Zoey pleaded harder, "It's a beautiful name... I want to be beautiful, William... I want to get to be a girl."

Bill sighed and with a smile he stood up, softly saying, "Don't worry, J... Zoey... I'll fix it." He proudly walked into the diesel's cab and went to the manual and flipped it open to the information page. He took his pen out of the chest pocket of his overalls and changed the J to a Z on the diesel name box. He walked out of the cab and remarked in a caring tone, "There we go. I'll talk with management later, but, your name is Zoey now. I hope people and the others will be okay with that. After all, factories sometimes make mistakes."

The sweet little diesel's eyes welled, up, as she sobbed joyfully, "You're a saint, Bill."

After a few weeks everyone was now adjusted, and Zoey was now the little GMD diesel's name. It was emblazoned on the side of her cab so that everyone, both human and engine, knew what her name was, and she had received a set of long eyelashes just like the other young lady diesels, all because William had said that they made a mistake making Zoey and that she's actually a girl diesel.


	3. Puddles and the Daily Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This series chronicles Zoey the GP30 when she was still fairly new, as she learns to be a young lady.  
> You see, sometimes when engines are built, the factory builds them wrong, and in Zoey's case, she was built AMAB.  
> When she came out, despite it being 1963, she still was treated with respect by most.
> 
> Come along and read about Zoey before she was the compassionate and leaderly CEO of BUNX
> 
> Anarchism- Zoey and Jackie in this story were built in 1961 vs the actual GMD GP30s being built in 1963, 1963 being when this story takes place
> 
> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.   
> All other characters in this chapter are my OCs

My name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a half. My older sister, she's about a week older than I am, is really really cool and clever, she sometimes sticks up for me when I get picked on. I have two Aunts, and they're not sisters, they're a couple. There's Aunt Mildred, she's an FP7 who is very sure of herself and confident, and then there's Aunt Sandra, she's a more quiet but caring Montreal Locomotive Works RS3. Anyways, I welcome you to my stories about my life as a girl. I'm not going to tell stories from back when I was mislabeled by the factory, those stories are boring. Anyways, this is a story about me, my family, Winnipeg, and the things I went through.

A drizzly Friday morning greeted the young GP30, her brown eyes looked up at the grey and cloudy skies, she smiled eagerly, softly whispering to herself, "Puddles."  
This little diesel's name was Zoey, and one thing about Zoey was she loved when it rained, it meant she could hop in the puddles.  
She checked around the yard that wasn't busy yet, making sure her Aunt Mildred wasn't around before she focused really hard and wiggled her nose.  
The little diesel shrunk down to her human form that was all of 4 and a half feet tall.  
Zoey's eyes that sparkled with joy matched in hue her hair that was chocolate brown and chin-length slightly frizzy bob that curled slightly at the ends, a stark contrast to her pale white skin that was dotted with little grey freckles. Her outfit was the normal for all young Canadian Pacific diesels, a standard pair of grey work overalls that had polished brass buttons accompanied with a maroon shirt and black work boots.  
The sweet little diesel walked up to a puddle near the entrance of the roundhouse and looked at it.  
"Ready, setty..." The little girl said softly with anticipation, crouching slightly.

A steam whistle interrupted the little one.

Zoey looked up to see one of the Royal Hudsons who hadn't been purchased yet nor sent for scrap.

"Zoey L., you know that Mildred doesn't like when you dirty your clothes with puddle water," the old steamer warned, their paint sooty and matte looking. She had just come back from switching close by the yard entry near Higgins Avenue.

Zoey sighed and crossed her arms, "Lottie, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to hop in a puddle, and besides, tomorrow is wash-down day and I've been trying so hard not to get too sooty so I could jump in puddles and not get too filthy."

"My name is Charlotte, dear, only my siblings can call me Lottie. Anyways, young one, I just don't want to see you get in trouble again," the kindly steam engine remarked with a caring smile.

Zoey smiled deviously and pounced into the puddle while giggling, splashing the ankles of her overalls and her work boots.

Charlotte chuckled and rolled her eyes before she graciously puffed past to head to where she could get some oil for her tanker, softly remarking, "I'll see you later, dear."

The GP30 jumped up and down lightly in the puddle a few times before she stopped and walked back over to the rails. She stood with one foot on either rail and focused deeply, wiggling her nose again before she changed back into her diesel form. Zoey excitedly rang her GMD brass bell before she headed to the corner of the yard where she knew the other young diesels were.

A few Baldwin diesels, at least a dozen or more GMDs, and at most 20 MLW switchers, all gathered in the edge of the yard near McPhillips Street Station, all ready for their orders for the day.

"Hey, anyone see Marina's sister?" a RS23 asked, her face was a pale cherry red.

DS 4-4-1000 answered back, "She's in Montreal this week, Scarlet."

Zoey approached a blue eyed GP9, inquiring, "So, Marina, any clue what the humans want us to do today?"

She glanced over at Zoey and started, "Well J..." she correct herself as she continued, "Zoey, I am guessing at least 5 of us will be assigned something to do with all the box cars and coal hoppers we got last night over near the north-side of the yard."  
She apologized, "That's the second time this week, I'm really sorry, Zoe."

"It's alright, Mar," she quelled in her little voice, "I mean, accidents happen."

It was finally 6AM and the supervising diesel, CP #22, rolled across the rail bridge from the Weston Shops to address the younger diesels.

"Good morning to the day staff", the Canadian Locomotives Work diesel began, "My sister and I run this yard as a tight ship, but that doesn't mean that work has to be boring."  
He continued in a loud and proud voice, "I will be grouping you up into teams, once you have done that, go to the head of the yard and collect your drivers for the day."

There was an audible groan of annoyance among some of the young engines.

22 coaxed happily, "Which ever team does the best job, not fastest, but best job, will receive a swell prize at the end of the day."

All the diesels honked joyfully, all the horns from each GP unit, each Baldwin diesel, and every MLW switcher there, the sound forming in a strange-sounding chorus.

As 22 started splitting diesels up into groups, Zoey zoned out, thinking about what the prize would be, whatever it was she wanted it.  
Zoey's thoughts were interrupted as she heard 22 call out, "Marina, Zoey, Scarlet, and Laurence, you four will be taking a train of diesel fuel to Canadian National Railway. Be on your best behaviours, even if they're our rivals, they're also our allies." 

"Alright, looks like I'm on your team again, Zoe," the deep cerulean eyed GP9 exclaimed.

Scarlet honked joyfully and looked over at Laurence the DS 44-1000, who bashfully looked away. She remarked, "Looks like we're working together again, Laurie."

He stammered with a smile, "I-I am l-looking forward to it," his engine burbled as his cheeks turned a little rosy. He had a bad crush on Scarlet. 

The four diesels headed out of the assembly of diesels, heading to the station at the other end of the yard to collect their drivers for the day. 

Zoey and Laurence dawdled behind to chat a bit.  
"So you still haven't told her yet?"

Laurence explained nervously, "I want to tell her, b-but, what if she doesn't want to go out for milkshakes?"

Zoey quelled quietly, "Look, Laur, you're one of my oldest friends, literally, by age. I don't understand how you're still mentally 15, anyways, you're a good guy and Scarlet would probably like to go out with you."

"You think so?" The Baldwin diesel eagerly asked before he babbled eagerly, "I really hope you're right, Zoey. She's the cat's meow."

The GP30 laughed and responded, "Just maybe tone it down with the 1940s euphemisms a little."

The two caught up with the others.   
Marina teased, "Wow, you two need to get the ballast out of your trucks."

Zoey reached the platform, greeted by her favourite driver, William. She eagerly greeted as she rang her bell, "Good morning, Bill. How was your night?"

"The wife made meatloaf last night, it wasn't that great, but she's a great woman so I can't complain," Bill admitted with a laugh before clambering into the GP30's cab. He asked with a smile as he sat down in his seat, "Seems today is a contest day so I was only given a minor briefing. So, what's on the docket?" 

Zoey responded happily, "Scarlet, Laurence, Marina, and I have to go to CN to drop off and help switch some diesel fuel tankers."

"Seems easy enough," William responded as the 4 diesels began to make their way back near the roundhouse to collect the line of tanker cars."

To Be Continued


	4. The Trans-Exclusionary GMD1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This series chronicles Zoey the GP30 when she was still fairly new, as she learns to be a young lady.  
> You see, sometimes when engines are built, the factory builds them wrong, and in Zoey's case, she was built AMAB.  
> When she came out, despite it being 1963, she still was treated with respect by most.
> 
> Come along and read about Zoey before she was the compassionate and leaderly CEO of BUNX
> 
> Anarchism- Zoey and Jackie in this story were built in 1961 vs the actual GMD GP30s being built in 1963, 1963 being when this story takes place
> 
> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding the GMD1 and CP 5000 in this chapter are my OCs  
> The GMD1 is based off of the diesel in the Alberta Railway Museum that presumably in real life has borrowed engine parts from the basis of Zoey's older sister CP 5000 (who was mentioned in this literature)  
> CP 5000, aka Jackie, is the trainsona of EsquimaltNanaimo on Deviantart

Hello again, for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a half. Sometimes there's engines out there who knew me before I was a little lady that aren't okay with me being who I am. Those people are awful, and what's worse is when big sister isn't there to protect me. She keeps telling me one day I'll have to fight my own battles, but I'm really scared of fighting anyone since I'm not big and strong like Aunt Mildred. Anyways, this is a story about me, those who don't like me for being a girl, Winnipeg, and the things I went through.

The little caravan of small diesels with the line of tanker cars approached the Canadian National Yards on the outskirts of the quiet little town of Transcona, Marina and Zoey leading the train, Scarlet as the middle engine, and Laurence pushing from the back.

It wasn't long before the supervising engine of the yard came to greet the young ones. He was an old black Consolidation, the first one build in Transcona, he was wise and strong.  
"Good day, little ones," the Consolidation greeted with a warm smile.

"Morning Mr. Schmidt," the little diesels all greeted, being as friendly as possible, hopes high for the promised prize.

He chuckled before remarking in his baritone, Johnny Cash-like voice, "You kids can call me Walshaert or just Wally for short."  
The steam engine focused his attention to Zoey and remarked, "Those eyelashes suit you nicely, Zoey. I'm sure glad they fixed that factory mistake."

The little GP30 felt her engine flutter with approval, a big dorky smile crossed her face as she responded back graciously, "Thank you, kindly, Walshaert."

He looked at the tanker cars the diesels had brought along and remarked, "You kids need some help with those? I can get my temporary yard assistant to help you out, he's going back to Alberta next week, and then my normal guy can come back."

Marina answered, "It would be great to know where they go."

Walshaert remarked as he started to puff away, "I'll go get him, you kids just hold tight."

The diesels, with the help of their drivers, broke the train up into 3 smaller trains, hoping that would make their work easier.

The young GP30 was shocked to see who the yard assistant was, he was that GMD1 Zoey had seen about one month back who somehow managed to blow a tractive motor and set his engine on fire after getting a set of repairs at Canadian National's shops and had to go back in for more repairs because of that. She stiffled a laugh as she saw whom everyone now called Captain Firecracker.

The Northern Alberta Railway diesel looked over the small diesels at a glance and remarked, "Alright, two of you will take these to each of the refill stations through out our operations, two of you go down to the station and see my brother Gregory, he will take some for our passenger division." He did a double-take upon seeing the GP30. He thought in his mind back to when he was awaiting repairs and recalled that the Canadian Pacific diesel numbered 8201 did not have eyelashes before. He waited until the RS23 and the Baldwin diesel had left to say something.

Zoey was minding her own business, collecting up 7 tanker cars of diesel fuel to bring to the north fueling station when the GMD1 rolled up in front of her. She remarked, "Excuse me, sir, you're in my way."

Captain Firecracker wouldn't have it, he glared down at the GP30 as he quietly condemned, "What game are you trying to play?"

"I... I don't understand..." Zoey stammered, wishing her older sister was here to intervene.

The GMD1 aggressively remarked, "You didn't have eyelashes last time. You're pretending to be a girl."

"I... I'm not pretending," Zoey answered in a hurt tone, her brown eyes looking down at the rails.

He glared at the GP30, eyes cold with aggression and hatred retorting angrily, "You're a weak little boy playing pretend. Grow up!"  
Fire didn't let the little diesel speak, he muttered in an angry tone, "Your big sister isn't here to save you." 

The GMD GP30 flinched as he jolted towards her to scare her. The eyes of the little diesel with the overbite welled up with tears, she was terrified.

He antagonized her more as he kicked her and the cars she was attached do a few metres, "Men don't cry! You're a pathetic weak little buck bunny!"

Marina saw what was going on when she was coming back from the West side of the yard, she hurried to go get Walshaert. The little GP9 rushed through the yard, calling out, "Walshaert! Mr. Walshaert Schmidt, I need assistance!"

The black steamer puffed over from helping push a diesel into the shops for repairs, he greeted kindly, "What seems to be the problem, little one?"

Marina explained afraidly, "Your assistant diesel is antagonizing Zoey. Please, we need you to tell him to back off."

Walshaert puffed over hurriedly, as he approached the two engines, he could start to hear what his colleague was barking at the other little GP unit.

"You should be ashamed of yourself! You're a DISGRACE to the GMD factory, Joseph. I.."

Walshaert tooted his grand Canadian National 4 chime steam whistle, stopping his temporary assistant from saying another word to Zoey.  
He scolded harshly, "While this might be alright in Alberta, we don't tolerate abusing CHILDREN here."

Zoey took this opportunity to flee and go do her work, still trying to overhear what the old and strong Consolidation had to say.

"What is your issue? She's not hurting you by doing work!" 

The diesel nicknamed 'Captain Firecracker' retorted angrily, "HE! And HE is a BOY DIESEL PRETENDING TO BE..."

Walshaert got angrier, he kicked the GMD1 back further than he kicked the poor GP30, through a switched point in the yard, placing him on another track. The steam engine boomed sternly, "I run this yard, and in this yard WE ARE NICER TO DIESELS WHO THE HUMANS MADE A MISTAKE WITH!"

Scarlet was passing through with a tanker car of acetone that another diesel asked her to move, however the lid wasn't shut properly. The liquid sloshed slightly as she travelled, she tried to keep all the liquid in it until she came to a screeching hault, nearly having hit the GMD1 who was arguing with his superior about Zoey. She stopped mere feet from the diesel who was too busy arguing to notice until it was far too late.

The acetone splashed onto Fire's face, stinging his eyes slightly but causing his eyebrows to wash off as though they had been drawn on with washable ink.

Scarlet apologized before hurrying away, not realizing what she had done.

Walshaert stifled a laugh as he said, "Well, that was a fast comeuppance"

Zoey glanced over and snickered at how the rude GMD1 now lacked eyebrows, and the paint of his pilot and cat walk was running. 

'Captain Firecracker' was fuming mad and stormed away aggressively, embarrassed and disgusted that engines in Manitoba were so troglodytical, bitter with what the GP30 had all caused. 

Once the GMD1 was out of hearing range, the little GP30 sighed with relief, appreciatively telling to Marina who had come back to see what had become of the issue, "Bless you so much, Mary. You're the best."

Walshaert looked to Zoey and soothed, "Now, you don't worry none about what happened, I'll put in the best word for ya to your higher ups. After all, you Canadian Pacific kids usually are really good." 

Once Laurence came back from the station, the diesels made their way back to Arlington Yard.

The journey back to Arlington was quiet, especially for Zoey, she felt the sting of the words even still and started second guessing if she could truly call herself a girl. She needed some advice from her aunts.

William interrupted Zoey's silent dwelling by soothing, "Now, now, Zoey. Don't take his words too seriously, GMD put his face on the wrong end so he is merely talking out his rear," which caused the diesel to giggle, but she still wanted some help to be a better girl.

Upon arriving back at noon, the drivers of the diesels all went to lunch.

Zoey approached Scarlet who was taking a break with Laurence. She suggested, hoping that it would work, "Hey, Scarlet. We should go some time up to Lockport for some ice cream at Half Moon. You, Laurence, and I. Like a friends' day out."

Laurence was a little worried and didn't say anything.

"You know, Zoey, that sounds great. We should do that on Sunday," the RS23 responded with a smile, she looked to Laurence and said, "What do you say, Laurie?"

"Count me in," the Baldwin diesel proclaimed, a little disappointed they wouldn't be alone.

Zoey pretended to think and responded, "Oh no. I can't this Sunday, Aunt Mildred needed to take me somewhere, but you two should go, I wouldn't mind."

Scarlet was about to say something when Laurence plucked up courage and remarked, "Maybe next time you can come along, Zoey."  
The DS 4-4-1000 diesel focused his attention on his crush and continued, "Scarlet... I'd like to go for ice cream on Sunday with you, if that would be alright."

The RS23 naively answered, "I'd love to go. It's a date then."

Laurence giggled like a ninny at the expression, turning pink in the cheeks.

The GP30 took this as her opportunity to head off to hopefully find her Aunt Sandra and Aunt Mildred, she might be able to help her with her woes on if she was enough of a girl.

To Be Continued


	5. Aunt Sandra and Cosmetic Alchemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This series chronicles Zoey the GP30 when she was still fairly new, as she learns to be a young lady.  
> You see, sometimes when engines are built, the factory builds them wrong, and in Zoey's case, she was built AMAB.  
> When she came out, despite it being 1963, she still was treated with respect by most.
> 
> Come along and read about Zoey before she was the compassionate and leaderly CEO of BUNX
> 
> Anarchism- Zoey and Jackie in this story were built in 1961 vs the actual GMD GP30s being built in 1963, 1963 being when this story takes place
> 
> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All other characters in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a half. I have two aunts, yes, they're a couple, even if they're not married. This story looks at my Aunt Sandra who is a Montreal Locomotive Works RS3, she's really smart even if she's a little modest. She's especially smart with stuff like makeup and hair stuff. It's like she can work magic like a benign witch or something. Anyways, this is a story about me, life in Winnipeg, my gay aunts, and me wanting to look more girly.

The little maroon and grey GP30 headed to the refuelling station, looking for her aunts. Her compressor kicking on as a sigh as she saw other RS3s that weren't her, sitting around and chatting.  
She looked up the line and saw coming in from the station, a gracious yet tired FP7 diesel.

It was Mildred Anne Jones, the most gorgeous of Canadian Pacific's passenger diesels, she seemed to almost glide into the yard on the rails with ease despite being tired from the long haul from Montreal.  
The FP7's brown eyes looked up the line and saw the little short front-hooded diesel and headed over to see her precious little niece.  
Mildred greeted in her slightly diva like voice, "Good afternoon, my little rabbit. How have things been?"

Zoey asked softly, "Aunt Mildred? Can we talk somewhere more private?"

"Sure thing, anything for my good little Zoey," she responded, not noticing the slight dirt from dried puddle water on the littler diesel.

The two headed over to the round house to chat, the larger diesel asked, staving off tiredness for her niece, "So what's on your mind?"

Zoey sighed, causing her compressor to kick on again, answering in a soft voice, "Auntie, am I a real girl?"

"Of course, my precious dear, who ever told you that you're not? I could show them a thing or two," the grand GMD F-Unit offered with a smile.

"No, he's going back to Alberta soon, but, am I enough of a girl? I mean... I'm not like you and Aunt Sandy, or Marina, or my older sister," the littler brown eyed diesel admitted, looking down at the puddle she had jumped in earlier, "I don't look the part when human."

Mildred softly remarked, "Chin up, dear, we can fix that. I was going to go to Eaton's and Hudson's Bay tomorrow, we can find you some pretty clothes to help you feel better."

Zoey smiled, but re-explained herself, "It's not about clothes, it's about my human form."

The F-Unit tutted and continued soothingly, "Dear, short nosed Geeps don't normally have larger breasts when they're adults, but that's nothing to be ashamed of, you'll be a beautiful young lady regardless of if you have B cups or F cups."

The GP30 was befuddled and thanked her aunt for the weird advice before going to find her Aunt Sandra.

The F-Unit stopped her niece with a quick honk of her M3H, stating, "Zoey, dear, go with Sandra at the end of the day, we can stay tonight at my loft."

Zoey loved staying at the apartment building at night. The young diesel's bell rang with glee as eagerly remarked, "I love staying over! Thank you, Aunt Mil, you're the best!"  
She hurried off to find her other Aunt, hoping to ask for some help.

The MLW RS3 was sitting inside the round house with a fellow RS3. The gorgeous bomb-shell blonde had a little brief case while she was painting one of her sibling's nails with a beautiful sparkling cherry red varnish.

The GP30 focused deeply and twitched her nose before becoming a human, before she walked into the entry ways of one of the bays to talk to her other aunt.

"Betty, you're sure going to look nice with this red. It really suits you," Sandra spoke in a soft and friendly tone, her voice was much softer and more gentle than her girlfriend's was. Her light aquamarine eyes studied her work, making sure not a drop of varnish went on her sister's cuticles

The deep auburn humanoid diesel glanced up and responded while holding her hand still, "Oh, Sandra, look, it's little Zoey who's come to say hello, how thoughtful."

The humanoid GP30 waved quietly before softly saying, "I can wait a little bit, I want to talk to my aunt alone if that's alright."

Betty shrugged lightly and replied, "Suit yourself dear, but do tell if there's any good gossip."

Sandra lightly nudged her sister and replied, "Oh Betty, life isn't all about gossip."

"Yes, sister dear, but gossip is the frosting on the cake of life."

Zoey tried to think up some good gossip that she had heard lately, she answered, "I think Countess is engaged."

"Shut the shed door! When did this happen?!" Betty inquired, curious for more information while her nails were being painted.

Zoey smiled as she continued, "Well, I know he's a Consolidation, Laurence said that his Great Aunt was seeing one."

"Oh! Good for her! She's been single for faaaaar too long,"

Sandra rolled her eyes and chuckled as she finished applying the varnish to her sister's nails. She scolded teasingly, "Now don't go telling everyone, Betty, Countess is the reason we're all here, so be respectful."

Betty replied, "Gracious, I could never be so crude, but I'll take her for tea and ask her. Maybe her beau will show up too." The MLW stood up, walked over to the rails, focused deeply and changed forms to her true engine form. She rang her bell once and happily remarked, "Toodles," before rumbling away.

Sandra closed up her brief case and looked at her pocket watch that she had turned into a pendant. She sighed and admitted defeatedly, "Dear, I'm sorry that appointment ran long, I don't have much time for a chat." She softly hugged Zoey and continued softly, "But we can talk when we get home tonight. I promise."

Zoey felt a bit snubbed but hugged her aunt back happily, at least she would have later to talk. The GP30 replied happily, "Thanks Aunt Sandy. You're really great."

Sandy responded with a wink, "I think tonight we're going to have your favourite, carrot soup and garlic bread."

The little humanoid diesel's right foot shook with anticipation of her favourite dinner.

"You're so sweet, like a precious little bunny," the humanoid MLW remarked before kissing Zoey on the forehead and heading off to find her driver while in human form.

After lunch break; Zoey, Marina, Laurence, and Scarlet had a few small tasks to do around the yard before #22 called all the smaller switchers to the head of the yard again to announce who had done the best job. 

The crowd of about 30 young diesels all eagerly listened to what the old CLC had to say. 

"Young diesels of all kinds, I am happy to announce the winners of the prizes. Yep, there was more than one. Second place winners for this week get the first 4 slots for wash down tomorrow is..." #22 paused for dramatic effect before he called out, "Team 1; Betty, Rodney, Ginger, and Red!" He took a breath in and continued with a smile on his face, "And now, for the big winners for this week, taking a prize of a whole 3 days of relaxation, and the 4 first slots for wash down on Monday are... Team 4! Laurence, Marina, Scarlet, and Zoey!" 

The first engines to wash down always got the warm water and were washed more gently, so those who were the first 10 were the luckiest ones. 

The sound of all the bells of the diesels rang out as a form of applause for the winners. 

Zoey was almost relieved tomorrow wasn't wash down, because she wanted to go with Aunt Mildred to the big stores in downtown. She and her friends all cheered joyously upon hearing their prize. After all, 3 days off of work would help Zoey figure out how to look and be the part of a young lady better.

Zoey waited at a bench near the North side of Arlington Yard near Main Street, shortly after she got there, Sandra walked up to Zoey and asked, "Ready to go home?"  
The brunette answered happily, "Yes please! I have three days off, and I am looking forward to all of them."

The two walked over to Euclid Avenue and down the quiet sidewalk of the calm neighbourhood, heading to the apartment building. 

"So, you wanted to talk about something, Zoey?" Sandra asked as she looked to the mentally ten-year-old humanoid diesel walking beside her.

Zoey looked up worriedly and asked, "Will I ever get to have pigtails like my sister, or will I have short hair forever?"

The blonde woman was befuddled by this stopped and asked Zoey gently, "Why would you think you'd have short hair forever?"

"Because I want to look like a normal girl,"  
Zoey continued, her tone still concerned, "I got called names by a mean diesel, and I'm worried that my eyelashes aren't enough."

Sandra got down closer to Zoey's level and soothed in her caring voice, "You became a girl later, so your hair has to catch up, don't worry, it will."

The brunette asked as she looked pleadingly at her aunt, "But when?"  
She thought for a second and asked, "Maybe there's some magic you could do and you could make me have longer hair like the normal girls?"

The MLW didn't respond, she didn't know what to say, she didn't want to dishearten her niece, but she didn't want to lie either. She came up with an answer as she stood back up tall, "I don't know how to yet, but I'll see what I can come up with."

The two reached the apartment building and entered, heading up the stairs and down the hallway to the loft for the little family.

Sandra knew Mildred was still sleeping, so she quietly stated to Zoey, "How about you go play quietly in your room while I start on dinner?"

Zoey nodded and headed to her bedroom.  
The humanoid GP30 opened the second door on the right in the short hallway, looking into her bedroom. Plush toys and model trains lined a book shelf, a game of Monopoly was laying on the floor half finished from when she had Scarlet over last weekend. The little humanoid plopped down onto the pale pink duvet of her bed as she looked up at the ceiling, thinking about the rude things the NAR diesel had said to her.  
She sat up and looked at her reflection in her dresser mirror. She stood up and walked over, sitting on the stool she had in front of the mirror.  
The brunette pinched the ends of a section of her hair near her right cheek and pulled it downwards as far as it could go comfortably, trying to get it to hold straight so it would almost touch her shoulders, but when she let go, it just curled back up and looked chin-length again. Zoey tried again, this time using both her hands, pressing the hair hard, trying to transfer the heat from her palms to make her hair look longer by making it straighter. The GP30 waited a minute or so before she closed her eyes and letting go. She opened her eyes hopeful that it worked, but it just made it wavy and frizzy.  
"Oh for fudge-sakes," Zoey softly cursed. She picked up her hair brush off her dresser and tried to make it look neat again. 

Suddenly, a thought crossed the little GMD GP30's mind. She could just make the elixir she needed with her Aunt Sandra's "potions and tonics".  
The brunette, still holding her hair brush, stood up and sneaked from her bedroom to the bathroom and cautiously closed the door, trying not to make a sound.

This was it, Zoey opened the counter cabinet and found all of what she needed. There was bottles and bottles of hair product. She plugged the sink with the stopper and began trying to figure out the formula. She set down her brush on the counter.  
"I need a base first... I guess maybe some shampoo," she thought to herself before she grabbed a bottle of Halo Shampoo for Body and Volume, and pulled off the top and started dumping the contents into the sink, smiling eagerly. She went back down to the cupboard and grabbed a bottle of liquid hairspray and took off the top, adding a good splash of it. Next she grabbed a tube of both hair gel and Lustre-Creme Conditioner and started adding a large squirt of both into the mix. Zoey grabbed two bottles next, and opened them up to add to the mix only to be surprised by the smell of sulfur and what smelled almost like gasoline. She closed those bottles back up and put them back, remarking to herself, "I think Auntie's relaxer and perm formula have both expired..." before adding a splash of some highlighting citrus extract and a dash of dry shampoo.  
The brunette resumed looking for more that she could add to her potion, coming across a conditioner claiming on the label 'for hair that grows longer', she eagerly smiled, her brown eyes gleaming with excitement as she poured the whole thing into the mixture before using her brush to stir the amalgamation. 

The sink reeked of the perfume of all the shampoos, conditioners, gels, and sprays. Zoey dipped her hairbrush into the concoction and began mixing her witch's beauty brew, smiling excitedly, eager to get that luxurious length she wished for. Once the mixture had turned a pale pink, she figured it was ready and pulled her hair brush out of the mix. She draped a towel over her shoulders and raised the dripping brush to her head, she was ready to be like the other girls. She stroked the brush through a section of her hair, coating it in the sweetly smelling goop she had created.  
"Just a few more brush strokes and then I'll be beautiful!" Zoey proclaimed to herself as she redipped her brush and took aim for the second brush stroke.

Mildred opened the door to come in to redo her makeup, she froze upon seeing Zoey dipping her hairbrush into the sink of pink goop. She asked in shock, "Dear lord, Zoey, what ever are you doing?"

Zoey dropped her hairbrush and bolted out of the bathroom, dripping the pink mixture as she ran back to her bedroom.

Sandra came into the washroom to see what the commotion was all about and saw the hairbrush on the floor, the sink full of home-made pink "hair-tonic", and a confused Mildred.  
She asked a serious tone that didn't seem to convey well with her soft voice, "Did Zoey do this?"

Mildred examined the bottles that were out on the counter and answered back, "I think possibly."

The young GP30 was sitting on her bed as she tried to work the pink goop she had in her hair into a lather that would coat it entirely, hoping it could still make her have long hair that she could tie up in ribbons so she could look normal and feel more like a girl, when her Aunt Sandra walked into her room. The brunette looked up to her aunt and asked, "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

Sandra sat down next to Zoey and placed her hand on the younger diesel's shoulder as she spoke, "Zoey, sweetheart, why would you use all my beauty supplies? You know that engines from work come here so that I can make them feel like their true selves."

Zoey explained rapidly, hoping that her aunt would understand, "I just thought I could mix a bunch of hair products together and have nice hair like everyone else does and I could put bows in it... I'm really sorry, Aunt Sandy. I just wanted to look pretty like you and Aunt Mildred."

The MLW hugged Zoey tightly and soothed, "Oh, sweetie, you are pretty. I promise, and your hair is very pretty, even if it's a little short right now. But there's no magic that I can work, you just have to wait." She let go of Zoey as she quelled, "However, you won't have to wait for long. I am sure it'll grow fast. Just give it two months and I'm sure it'll be more like how you want to be."

"But what am I going to do while it's stuck this way?" The sudsy haired brunette asked, looking down at the wood floor of her bedroom. 

The busty blonde woman thought for a second and then suggested, "We could get you a lovely sunhat, with a big pretty bow. But first, you need to wash the 'potion' out of your hair so you can come have dinner with us when it's ready."

Zoey nodded and headed to the bathroom where the potion was still in the sink.  
She sighed, "No use in letting it go to waste," before she used her hands to bring the soapy mixture to the tub as she let it fill with warm water. Zoey chanted softly as she transported the liquid between the sink and the tub, "Bubble bath! Bubble bath! Bubble bath!" 

To Be Continued


	6. Aunt Mildred, Diva of Fashion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.   
> All characters, excluding Jackie (who is mentioned, and belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA), in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a half. I have two aunts, yes, they're a couple, even if they're not married. This story looks at my Aunt Mildred, a super confident passenger train F7 who is really into fashion and is one of my role models. It also looks at me worrying if I'm enough of a girl to even wear a dress in the first place. Anyways, this is a story about me, a bright yellow sunhat, The Hudson's Bay Store, my Aunt Mildred, and my insecurities 

Saturday morning arrived, the smell of chocolate chip pancakes filled the apartment suite of Mildred and Sandra, causing the young humanoid GP30 to awaken. Chocolate chip pancakes were usually made by Mildred and were an extra special treat.  
The girl hopped out of bed, quickly brushed her hair, wincing as she tamed her tangles, before she got dressed and hurried to the kitchen to join her aunts for breakfast.

"Good morning, our little bunny," Sandra greeted as she gave Zoey a hug, "How did you sleep?"

Zoey thought and responded with a giggle, "On my back with my eyes closed, but I had a good sleep."

The blonde humanoid MLW diesel let go of her niece and informed in her soft voice, "Mil made her chocolate chip pancakes, we figured it would be a nice start to your day."

Mildred was still standing at the stove top, cooking up pancakes in her frilly apron, she glanced over at her niece and greeted grandly as she set the frying pan down on a burner not in use, "Good morning, my favourite niece."

"I'm your only niece, Aunt Mildred," Zoey laughed before she was pat on the head by her aunt with the mahogany red hair.

"While that is true, we are truly blessed to have such a sweet little niece like you," Mildred proclaimed before turning her focus back to the stove and continued talking, her tone joyful, "You and I get to go shopping today, we get to help you look for something to help you feel more like the little lady you are." She finished getting the pancakes made and placed a plate with the stack of pancakes on the table. 

The little brunette GP30 walked over to the wooden dining table, that easily sat 6, and sat in her chair that had on the seat of it an encyclopedia volume to make herself feel taller. 

Sandra laughed slightly and asked softly, "Zoey, sweetie, you don't need that encyclopedia, you're not too short."

"Yeah, but I want to be taller, Aunt Sandy," The brown eyed girl remarked before reaching to get a pancake.

Mildred sat down and proclaimed, "Young lady, we don't have a meal in this house without prayer."

The little GP30 rolled her eyes and held took hold of one of Mildred's hands and one of Sandy's hands, while they held hands with each other.

Mildred began in a prayerful tone, "We thank the manufacturer for every beautiful day on this Earth, for our loved ones and friends, and we thank them for the opportunity to make a living so we can have the beautiful meal that is before us, Amen."

The three humanoid diesels let go of each others' hands and began starting place food on their plates.

Zoey was first to the pancakes, taking two of the large chocolate chip pancakes and putting them down on her plate before putting the serving fork back with the pancakes. She softly asked to her blonde aunt, "Aunt Sandy, could you please pass me the fruit salad?"

Sandra nodded and passed the bowl of peaches, apples, strawberries, and orange pieces from a can.

"No cherries this time?" Zoey asked, sounding upset.

Mildred rolled her eyes and responded, "Zoey, we can't always have cherries, they're expensive at a quarter a pound. We could get Morden apples for half the price."

The brunette spooned a some of the fruit salad into her the little bowl beside her plate. She began to eat her breakfast, enjoying the chocolatey gooey goodness within the pancakes. 

Sandra set down her morning tea after taking a sip, asking softly to Mildred, "Oh, honey, could you pick me up the curling iron I ordered from Hudson's Bay?"

The GP30 swallowed the food in her mouth before she inquired, "Curling iron? Why would you need that when you can do perms?"

Mildred explained as she poured some fruit salad, "It's called a perm because it's permanent, dear. Sometimes engines only want to curl their hair for a one day outing."

The small family unit made more small talk about work and the weather over breakfast, before it was 7:00AM, Sandra had to get going to work for the day.

Mildred went to her bedroom to put on makeup, Zoey followed along curiously. She approached the humanoid FP7 and asked curiously, "Aunt Mildred, do you have any clothes I could borrow? I don't want to wear my work clothes to the stores."  
The red-headed woman glanced down at her niece after she put on some red lipstick, "Dear, go into the old steamer trunk at the end of the bed, that's my old clothes from when I was a young one."

The brunette opened the trunk and was disappointed to see the grey dresses with the slight accents of maroon and sunflower yellow. She exclaimed, "All of these are so boring."

The humanoid FP7 responded as she glanced back, "Try digging deeper, dear, the hand-me-downs are on the top."

Zoey pushed aside the bland grey cotton dresses until she found something that caught her eye, a deep cherry red velvet dress with a pleated skirt that had a sunny yellow trim to match a tiny bow of the same colour near the neckline, and around the mid-section was a small grey sash.  
The GP30 let out a little squeal of delight, slightly hopping up and down with joy, this was what she was looking for. She ran to her room to go put on the dress to see if it would work.  
She proclaimed joyfully from her bedroom, "Aunt Mildred, I think I found something I want to wear."

Mildred looked to her niece who re-entered the room, the dress was a little on the short side, just shy of showing the little humanoid diesel's knees. She however responded, without any judgement, "It looks beautiful, Zoey dear. I do hope we find a sunhat to go with it, then we could take you along to tea at Hotel Fort Garry tomorrow," before focusing back on putting some final touches of makeup on herself.

The brown eyes of the young lady twinkled gleefully, she twitched her hands excitedly and pleaded, "Please take me with you and Aunt Sandy. I want to go ever so badly."

The humanoid passenger diesel turned around after having put on a fake beauty mark on her right cheek remarking contently to her niece, "We will. I promise." The beautiful mahogany red-head stood up and put on her pillbox hat, that matched her pressed red with white polka-dots dress with a flared skirt, and looked to her niece asking, "What do you think?"

Zoey remarked sincerely, "The hat makes you look a bit aged. I know they're in style, but it doesn't quite work with your face shape."

Mildred took off the hat and went to her closet putting on a matching medium brimmed sunhat with a white bow that hung down from it. She looked to her niece for an opinion again.

Zoey gave a thumbs up replying joyfully, "I think that's a better hat."

The two called up a taxi and rode to the Hudson's Bay store near the corner of Colony Street and Portage Avenue. 

The two humanoid GMDs exited once in front of the building, and headed inside.

The brunette was shocked and horrified by the inside of the department store, rows and rows and rows of clothing, she had a sinking feeling they would be there all day. The brunette's nose slightly twitched as she calculated in discomfort

Mildred could see Zoey beginning to get overwhelmed, she placed her right hand on Zoey's shoulder and remarked gently, "I know this seems daunting, but I promise, we won't be here all day, dear. Also we can go upstairs to the Paddle Wheel for lunch."

The brown eyes of the young humanoid GP30 twinkled. She remembered going there once with her sister. They had lime Jell-O and got to throw pennies onto the turning paddle wheel decoration. She pleaded excitedly, "Promise we can go to the paddle-wheel, Aunt Mil? Please please please?"

The redhead laughed slightly before reassuring her niece, "Of course dear."

Zoey got to sit down near the fitting room while waiting for Aunt Mildred to come with clothing to try on. She looked glumly down at her workboots, not realizing she had worn a dress with them.   
A sight caught the little diesel's attention, the children's clothing and shoes section.  
The brunette looked around to make sure Aunt Mildred was still looking before she headed over to take a look at the shoes, hoping for something that would match her hand-me-down velvet dress.  
A row of little girl shoes greeted Zoey, she knew that she would need a size or two up since her foot was a little wider. She looked at penny loafers, sunday dress shoes, and dress-up heels, all of which were far too daunting for Zoey. She walked around to the clearance shelf and saw what she needed. 

A beautiful glossy pair of girl's flats, no heel, child's size 10. 

Zoey could hardly contain herself and jumped up and down excitedly for all of three seconds before containing her enthusiasm to try on the shoes.  
Sure enough, they were perfect. She took them off, put back on her boots, and hurried to the clothing section, knowing she likely only had 5 more minutes to look before Aunt Mildred would come back to the fitting rooms.  
Zoey was annoyed with the amount of clothes that wasn't maroon and yellow, she wanted clothes that matched her work wear since she was proud to be Canadian Pacific.   
The brunette paced around, settling on a deep ruby cotton dress with a pleated skirt, softly remarking to herself, "I could probably ask for Aunt Mildred to find a nice yellow sash to tie around the waist. Oh! I can't wait for all my friends to see me dressed pretty."  
Zoey imagined in her little mind everyone oohing and ahhing at her new dress and flats. She twirled in real life, letting her current dress' skirt flare out a little. The brunette waltzed back over to the changing rooms proudly.

Mildred rounded the corner to the changing rooms, seeing Zoey walking along with some clothing. The humanoid passenger engine inquired curiously, "Did you find something, dear?"

"I found the prettiest stuff, Aunt Mil!"

The redheaded woman in the red and white polka-dotted dress responded as she showed a sunny yellow sunhat to Zoey with a red bow adorning it, "I think this would suit you nicely, especially if we put one of the Canadian Pacific lapel pins on the centre of the bow."

The brunette placed the hat on her head and ran up to a mirror. Her Aunt Sandra was entirely right, the hat seemed to take away the attention from her bobbed hair, making her look like a true little lady. Zoey giggled blissfully, gawking at herself like she never had ever done before.  
The brunette heard the stinging echo of the words of the GMD1 from the day before, but it seemed like the words made no sense, the young diesel could see plain as day that she wasn't just CP 8201, she was a real little lady, and she was proud of it.

Mildred approached her niece and asked curiously, "Well, what do you think?"

Zoey's eyes were beginning to well up with tears of joy, she turned around and hugged her aunt tightly.   
"Aunt Mil, I look so nice with this hat, please please please I want it so badly!."

Mildred stifled a chuckle, proud of her niece as she quietly proclaimed, "I'll buy it. After all, if it makes my little bunny happy, then I'm open to it." She then went to go try on her own clothes.

The brunette continued to admire herself in the mirror, however a tinge of guilt started to form in her mind as she looked on.   
"If I'm a little lady... then does that mean I can't hop in the puddles or collect model trains?" Zoey quaked silently, her joy depleting as she needed to sit down, looking away from herself. She continued to worry to herself, "But, I'm not a boy, I'm not a boy... I'm a girl... I'm Zoey... but, then... what AM I?"  
She looked silently down at her boots, hoping for an answer to pop into her head during her wait for her F-Unit Aunt to come back.

Mildred found Zoey sitting solemnly after she had finished trying on some clothes. Concerned for the young one's emotional state, she sat down beside her niece and asked softly, "Dear, you were so happy before, what happened?"

"I... What if I'm not cut out to be a little lady?" The humanoid GP30 anxiously muttered, taking off the sunhat in shame.

"Dear, what ever gave you that thought?"

Zoey hesitated at first to say, but plucked up courage and explained softly, her voice almost trembling, "I jump in the puddles... I... I collect model engines... I am not keen on wearing makeup like you and Aunt Sandy... Does that mean I'm too broken to be a lady?" tears began to form in the brown eyes of the mentally 10-year-old girl. 

Mildred placed her hand on Zoey's back reassuringly, speaking in a softer voice than usual, "Oh my sweet little bunny. Your interests don't take away from you being a little lady." She continued, trying to quell the worries of her niece, "Every lady is different, and I promise you that you don't have to be the same as any other lady, you just be you."

Zoey slowly lifted the hat back up, inquiring quietly, "So, I can wear the hat, and come to tea tomorrow?"

"Of course, dear, just no hopping in puddles in your velvet dress. Mud and dirty water washes out of cotton easier."

Zoey gave her Aunt Mildred a super tight side hug, so happy that for once her aunt actually encouraged her to jump in puddles.

Mildred added with a chuckle, "Just remember to polish the flats and put wax on them so they'll last longer if you hop in puddles with them."

The two, once they were done shopping for clothes and had picked up Sandra's curling iron, went up to the paddle wheel restaurant and had a nice lunch together, talking about work, puddles, and gelatin desserts so Zoey would feel more comfortable in knowing that little ladies could like non-conventional lady things.

To Be Continued


	7. The Majestic 'Castle' and Sunday Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.   
> All characters in this chapter are my OCs excluding the mentioned characters of Zoey's sister and 'gail, who are characters of EsquimaltNanaimo on Deviantart

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a two thirds. Aunt Mildred and Aunt Sandra like to go on Sunday to tea at some place called Hotel Fort Garry with some other sophisticated lady engines from town. The hotel looks like a big fancy castle, I want to go to the castle too! Anyways, this is a story about me, my aunts, tea cakes, a strange blonde girl, nail polish, and the majestic and magnificent castle on Broadway in Winnipeg.

A bright and sunny Sunday had begun for a young GP30 who had been excited for this day for a little while already. She hurried to her room after breakfast to get ready for the noon tea, as her Aunts were already beginning to ready themselves.  
Zoey threw on her maroon cotton sundress, put excessive pink chapstick to make her already faintly pink-ish lips a glossy looking pastel pink. She brushed her hair roughly but effectively, and then it was time to put on the sash.  
The brunette walked over to her bed post where the grey-ish silver sash was draped, she wrapped it around her waist with a smile and then did her best to tie it herself.   
"Over, under, around and through, meet the White Rabbit, pull and through," the humanoid diesel softly muttered to herself as she tied the bow, but only to result in disappointment, the bow was lopsided. She tried again, iterating to herself, "Over, under, around and through, meet the White Rabbit, pull and through," only for one of the loops to have not stayed.  
After 10 minutes of continual attempts and failures, Zoey became frustrated and pulled off the sash crossly, before she flopped down on her bed and screamed into her pillow.

Mildred and Sandra heard the dismay of their niece and came into the room to see what the cause was. 

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Sandra soothed as she walked over to the bed and sat down beside her brunette niece.

Zoey sulked angrily as she sat up right, pulling her knees in close to her, "I can't make the stupid bow! Now I can't go to tea!"

Mildred took a look at Zoey and remarked, "It's not just the bow you need help with, Dear."

Zoey felt insulted by the statement, she glared at her aunt with the mahogany coloured hair.

Sandra looked sternly at her girlfriend before soothing to Zoey, "How about we help with the bow and a few other things, if you'd like?"

The young girl with the fair complexion looked a little more hopeful, sitting now with her legs crossed like she had been practicing all night.

"What would you like help with, sweetheart?" the blonde bombshell humanoid RS3 inquired as she rubbed Zoey's back.

The brown eyes of the young girl twinkled with hope, she softly recounted, "This makes me think of the shed-time story I once heard about a steam engine named Ella Cinderstack who wanted to attend a Gatsby Party."

Mildred recounted from the story in a voice that would make for a beautiful narration, "But she was snubby by the humanoid streamliners and was left to switch the whole yard, until her fairy god-Hudson appeared and granted her wish to go to the party to meet Gatsby."

Sandra remarked with a smile, "While I might not be a Hudson, I will gladly help."   
She asked Mildred to bring the beauty box that Sandra would take to do 'house-call appointments' for fellow engines, despite not being a licensed aesthetician. 

Mildred walked into the room with the rolling upright trunk.

Zoey was sitting at her dresser, facing the humanoid FP7 who was applying a vivid salmon coloured nail polish to the humanoid GP30's nails while Zoey's other aunt was using a curling iron to flatten the brunette's hair.  
Zoey remarked as she coughed, "This nail polish stuff smells peutrid, I probably won't want to wear it ever again."

Mildred replied with a laugh as she carefully painted her niece's nails, "Dear, if you're off-put by a little nail polish, you definitely wouldn't be able to get a perm."

"Mildred, she probably won't ever have a need for a perm if her hair is going to be as naturally curly as her sister's." 

Zoey's eyes twinkled joyfully at the thought, she asked to her bustier aunt, "Oh, do you mean that, Aunt Sandy? Will I, someday, have long flowing curls too?"

Sandra felt a section of the brunette tresses of her niece before she started to carefully straighten it to smoothen the frizz, "It has the same texture, so yes." Once she was done, she let Zoey glance in the mirror.

The bespectacled girl smiled dorkily seeing her hair just barely touching her shoulders, she wanted to pull her hands away and hug her Aunt Sandra but the varnish on her nails wasn't dry, let alone done being applied. She proclaimed in a grateful voice, "You're a saint, Aunt Sandy! But could you slightly curl the ends? I like how it looks that way."

Sandra chuckled softly before slightly curling the ends of the young brunette's hair, but not too much so it was longer than how it normally was. Once she was done she misted it lightly with some low-stiff hairspray, remarking joyfully, "You look wonderful, Zoe, as always."

Mildred set down the nail polish and took out of the box a foldable fan and began to fan her niece's nails, fanning the stench away from the young girl.

Zoey looked to the mirror again, surprised that was her looking back at her in the mirror. Her lips looked glossy, her hair was perfectly styled, she had a touch of base cover to make her freckles more faint.

Sandra went to the other room, retrieving the yellow sunhat before carefully placing it on Zoey's head.

The brown eyed girl beamed blissfully noticing a prototype lapel pin from Canadian Pacific in Montreal, a symbol of a with half circle with a black triangle nearly reaching to the edge of the white half-circle's curve.

Sandra remarked softly as she adjusted the hat and carefully fluffed up the brunette's slightly curled ends, "My sister 'gail brought two back for me. She says that they're going to be formally revealed in 5 years, but for now, it's just something I thought that you'd like for your hat."

"It's wonderful," Zoey cried happily, her tears welled up with tears of joy as she saw her beautiful yellow sunhat decorated with the now decorated red-bow.

"Oh, dear, don't cry, your makeup will run," Mildred remarked as she stopped her fan and felt the nails of her niece, they were now dry

Zoey's joyful crying turned into laughter, finally able to use her hands, she wiped the remaining tears and exclaimed joyfully, "I look so beautiful, you two are so wonderful, thanks for helping me."

Sandra helped tie Zoey's silver sash and adjusted the bow before she fastened it with a safety-pin. She replied, "Well, looks like you're all ready for Sunday tea like us." The humanoid MLW's flowing golden hair was done in its usual beehive as a contrast to a lovely sapphire dress that she wore to tea often.

Mildred put back on her white lace gloves that looked lovely with her low cut maroon dress suit and her string of cream coloured pearls that adorned her neck. She asked to Zoey, "Are you ready, dear?"

Zoey stood up and remarked joyfully, "Goodness am I ever!"

Mildred reached down to her leather purse on the ground pulled out of her purse a small red clutch with the name 'Zoey' embroidered on the front of it in white thread and surrounded by little white daisies.

The brunette accepted the present and asked, "I get to have my own purse now?"

Sandra chuckled, "It's more than that, sweetie," causing the brunette to check inside and see a $5 bill, she hugged both her aunts thankfully.

The sweet family moment was broken by the sound of a honk outside, the cab had arrived and now it was time to go.  
The family of humanoid diesels got their purses and headed down where they hopped into the back of the yellow 1950 Dodge sent there from the Duffy Cab company.

Zoey watched out the window as they headed from the North End suburb to the heart of the city, looking out at the buildings like the Bank of Montreal and the shops along Main Street until they reached the Union Station before the cab turned right onto Broadway.  
The brown eyes of the young girl lit up as she looked up at the large hotel on the street they turned onto. Her little mind seeing it as a large majestic castle that presumably housed a king, a queen, and probably a pretty little princess her age and possibly pretty horses in a stables area. She turned to her Aunt Sandy and asked, "Are you sure this is a hotel? Or does a princess live here?"

"Sweetie, that's so adorable, but no, even if some rooms look like a royal suite and there's a ballroom."

The brunette was sure for sure now there was at least a princess there.

Mildred paid the cab driver once they got there and the Canadian Pacific humanoid diesels exited the car and headed up the stairs and into the lobby of the magnificent hotel.

Zoey's intrigue was greeted with more that tickled her imagination, she saw the large varnished redwood check in desk, the lobby had gorgeous fainting couches from the turn of the century, a beautiful grand father clock, and marble floors that when she stepped on them, her flats sounded like heels. 

Sandra, Mildred, and their young niece Zoey, all headed across the lobby to a round room with many tall windows, beautifully painted walls, and a hanging chandelier, and at a table, some other people were sitting. However, they were like the 3 from CP, having grey skin or another non-human hue and most were wearing dresses showing their railway colours.  
One caught Zoey's eye, a short blonde pigtailed girl in a black velvet dress sitting next to a teenager looking humanoid F-Unit clad in a flashy geometric themed red, white, and black dress who had black hair in an angled bob.

The 3 sat down at the table with the humanoid CN diesels.

The teenager diesel spoke up, greeting with a slight joking jab, "Canadian Pacific, shows up... eventually. What happened, Milly sis, you and Sandra try to be here right on time?"

Sandra answered back to Mildred's younger sister who worked for another railroad, "Well, Cassandra, we wanted to bring along our niece that we told about last time."

Mildred introduced proudly, "Her name is Zoey."

An MLW from CN looked at Zoey and asked curiously, "Did my cousin do your hair up like that, little miss Zoey?"

Zoey timidly nodded, she didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of the strangers, she looked again to the little blonde girl who shyly waved to Zoey.

Cassandra pat the humanoid SW8 on the back and sternly suggested, "Go on, Allie, say hi, you're only visiting from New York for the week."

Alice's tiny voice cut the silence as the adult diesels waited to hear, "H-hi, I'm Alice of New York Central. I-it's nice to meet you, Zoey."

Zoey was floored, to her, New York Central was the most elite railway in North America, especially with the legend of the strange disappearance of the Mercury Streamliner. She also was surprised to meet someone who had the same name as the heroine of her favourite book and favourite Disney movie.  
The brunette asked to the blonde 9-year-old looking humanoid, "So, Alice, what do you do?"

"I switch passenger cars," the blonde answered shyly.

Suddenly into the room walked a woman dressed in a black dress with a big red sash and gold jewelry, her black hair that had a few greys was done up in a bun. She apologized as she sat down at the table, "I'm so sorry I'm late, I had to ask Wally for a ride." She was the 4-4-0 Baldwin best known as The Countess of Dufferin.

Zoey's eyes opened widely and she asked curiously, "I hate to be nosy, but do you mean Mr. Schmidt of the Transcona shops?"

Countess' brown eyes looked to the little brunette before she remarked, "If you promise not to tell everyone, young one, then yes."

Zoey nodded and responded, "I'll keep it confidential."

The older diesels talked among themselves after giving the order of tea, little sandwiches, tea cakes, and two tea cups with some milk with a drop of honey for the youngest diesels, to the waitress working in the little round room restaurant.

Alice began to open up to Zoey, not being so worried, "I am trying to get transferred to Canadian National, New York is kind of boring."

The humanoid GP30 responded shockedly, "For real?"

Alice responded, "That and I'm scared, this year is the 13th anniversary of the Mercury going missing, what if something happens?"

The brunette responded gently, "I can understand your fear of something happening, but you should be alright, I'm sure. You're young like me."

The blonde fidgeted with her plastic pearl necklace explaining, "But I like Canada, engines are really nice here," before she fell silent, looking away from Zoey.

Zoey felt really honoured that the American diesel had said something like that. She wanted to talk more to Alice but the other engines were talking too loudly to allow her be heard or hear if Alice talked, she nodded to Alice to indicate she was wanting to talk elsewhere in the hotel.  
She looked to her Aunt Mildred and asked in a voice that indicated that she had practiced all night to remember, "Auntie, may I go powder my nose?"

Alice waited half a minute before she softly asked to Cassandra for the same thing before being given a nod.

The brunette in the sunny coloured hat stood in the hallway of the washrooms, she didn't have to go, she just wanted a break because the adults were talking a bit too loudly.

The New York Central humanoid diesel approached Zoey and asked friendily and quietly, "Hey, Zoey, where should we go to chat?"

Zoey remarked, "Well, we maybe have 5 minutes, let's go check out the upstairs!"

The two humanoid diesel girls snuck their way to the elevators before boarding and pressing the button for the 12th floor, both giggling mischievously as the doors closed.

"Hey Zoey," Alice asked as she fidgeted with her pretend pearls, "you're really pretty."

The brunette was surprised by this, she had never been called pretty by any of her peers, let alone really pretty. She stammerred in surprise, "Th-thanks, you're, you're really pretty too, Allie." She elaborated with a smile to the humanoid EMD SW8, "I mean you probably more so than me, you're blonde and you're from New York."

"Trust me, I'm basic, I have oodles of siblings, both 7s and 8s, all over the US, all of them sunshine blonde with blue eyes."

"I don't think you're basic," Zoey soothed, looking over the SW8 again, she felt something weird inside.  
The humanoid GP30 felt a wave of sadness upon realizing that Alice would have to go home, so she had an idea for when they got off the elevator.  
"When we get up there, let's dance a little bit if we can get into the ballroom."

The doors opened, the two girls didn't have to encounter any adults on any other floors, they walked down the beautiful hallway between the ballrooms, looking at the other side of the hallway turned into a long reading alcove, some people were reading in there, not noticing the young girls who bolted into the ballroom that had their large windows uncovered, the staff had just left for lunch while cleaning up.

Zoey held out her hand and softly asked, "May I have this dance, Alice?"

Alice accepted Zoey's hand, and despite there being no music, the two girls held each others' hands before spinning around fast while laughing before falling away from each other and giggling. 

The brunette stood up and helped up her new friend as she responded, "Alice, I hope you get to stay longer in Winnipeg. I want to show you around a bit."

The blue eyed girl replied as she looked up at the ceiling dizzily, getting her bearings back once standing thanks to Zoey, "I think I could make it happen." Suddenly she was interrupted by the gurgle of her human form's fuel tank being empty. She remarked with an embarrassed chuckle, "I guess I'm out of fuel, let's go back downstairs."

The two girls headed back to the elevator and headed back down to the main floor, hurrying back across the lobby, softly giggling because they had gone upstairs without the grown-up engines knowing.   
They arrived just as the food and tea had gotten to the table.

The train ladies, and the two little train ladies all raised their tea cups as Countess proposed a toast.

"To our railroads, while we are rivals, we are allies. And also a warm Winnipeg welcome to our visiting friend, Alice."

The two girls smiled at each other before they took their first sip of their first tea time at the Hotel Fort Garry.

To Be Continued


	8. Jaquelline Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.   
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs
> 
> And yes the Mr Sandman is the meme one where they sing Sand Me a Man, Make him the cutest man car door hook hand

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a two thirds. If you remember from past chapters, I have an older sister named Jacqueline, or Jackie for short. I know she's also a GP30 that's nearly identical to me, but she seems a lot stronger than I am and I have a tendency to hide behind her when she is around, which she doesn't like me doing because she says I need to start standing up for myself. Anyways, this is a story about me, my older sister, some jerks, and my brand new sunhat.

Zoey was happy with how Sunday tea had went and after she got back home with her aunts, she wanted to go to Arlington Yard to go show her friends her new outfit.  
The brunette hurried down Euclid and ran to the hole in the fence by the train tracks before standing on the rails and focusing deeply. The little brunette twitched her nose and shape-shifted into her true form, a GMD GP30, before she headed into the yard in search of Marina, Laurence, and Scarlet.

Marina was just stopped close by the roundhouse in the centre of the yard, just staring up at the sparrows that were making a nest in part of the eaves-trough.

"Hey Marina!" Zoey proclaimed excitedly, "I went to tea today!"

The blue eyed diesel raised an eyebrow in surprise, remarking with a laugh, "Sunday tea sounds nothing like the Zoey I know. Are you okay?"

Zoey focused deeply and twitched her nose before becoming a human to better explain herself.

"Holy Lord Almighty! You look great in that, Zoey!" the GP9 exclaimed, partially surprised to see her best friend all dolled up like that.

"Yeah, and there was this New York switcher there, Electro-Motive, she's an American and..." Zoey paused as she looked around and thought before asking, "Hey, where's Laurie and Scarlet?"

"They're out in Lockport, silly goose, it was your idea to set them up."

Suddenly, a humanoid sibling of Laurence approached the two girls, she aggressively huffed as she looked at Zoey, "Well, well, well, look who is dolled up like the Princess of Pathetica!"

Marina threatened to the unfriendly DS-4-4-1000s, "Make like a tree and leave, Marie-Anne, or I'll make you eat your own knuckles on toast."

Zoey interrupted quietly, "Marina, the expression doesn't exactly go like..."

George, a bitter RS23, approached and changed into his human form to join in bullying Zoey, he didn't like that his Aunt was too busy caring for Zoey to have time for him. He interrupted the GP30 rudely, "WOW! LOOK AT YOU! You are such a try hard, Zoe. You look like a joke of a girl. You couldn't stop at eyelashes now could you?"

The brunette tried to step away from the two but they pushed Zoey down and took her yellow sunhat. She exclaimed upsetly, "GIVE BACK MY HAT! AUNT MILDRED GAVE ME THAT!"

Marie-Anne tossed the hat to George and laughed, "Keep away!"

Zoey ran to George trying to tackle him, but he stepped out of the way, making Zoey fall and dirty her dress in a mud puddle.

"Awww, is the little girly going to cry?" The Baldwin diesel sneered as she put her foot on Zoey's back to keep the little GP30 from standing up.

Marina turned human hurriedly and tackled George to the ground, walloping him hard with her whole body, and took the hat back, only for Marie-Anne to take back the hat with a cackle

A sandcast K3 honked loudly close by causing the humanoid diesels to freeze.

The brunette in the muddied cotton dress looked up through her dusty glasses and exclaimed in surprise, "JACKIE!"

The first built GMD GP30, numbered 8200 better known as Jackie, looked down upon George and Marie-Anne, her compressor kicking on out of anger. She sternly remarked, "Let go of my sister and give her hat back!"

Marie-Anne handed the hat back to Marina and ran off, pulling George with her because she knew never to mess with class-leader diesels.

The older GP30 focused deeply and became a human girl similar in appearance to Zoey. Her longer brown ringlets were styled into two low tied ponytails draped over the shoulders of her maroon shirt and grey overalls. Her brown eyes gleamed with a light of determination behind a pair of glasses with frames that were a deep emerald green.  
She walked over to her younger sister and helped her up, she chuckled slightly as she looked at the mud on the chest of Zoey's dress, "I'm sure that will come out in the wash."  
Without any worry about the mud she gave Zoey a hug and sternly muttered to her little sister, "You still need to stand up for yourself."

Marina awkwardly offered the sunhat back to Zoey after the two sisters hugged quickly before she left the two to talk.

The younger brunette awkwardly took her hat back, thanked Marina, and put it on before turning her attention to her older sister.

"Come along, Zoe," Jacqueline coaxed as she started heading towards some sand barrels at the side of the roundhouse.  
Jackie hopped up on one, and patted the one next to her before Zoey hopped up.

"Jackie, I don't know what I did wrong... I'm just trying out girl things to see what I like... Should I-I..."

"Zoey, that's not how it works. You weren't happy that way, and while it's unfortunate people and engines like George and Marie exist, don't let them get you down."

Zoey looked at her sister and asked worriedly, "What if I never figure out what kind of girl I am?" before she used part of the dress' skirt where it wasn't dirty to clean off the lenses of her glasses

The older brunette adjusted her glasses and replied, "You have your whole life, just don't burn yourself out trying everything, and don't force yourself to be a certain type of girl that isn't you." She looked at Zoey and responded reassuringly, "But, I mean you look nice in a dress, even if it's a little bit of a shocker," the Canadian Pacific diesel chuckled as she explained, "The hat, not so much, I remember a year ago you refused to take off that UK-style engineer's cap before your head got too big for it."

"Please don't remind me, sis,"

"Hey well it's better than when you sang that weird version of Mr. Sandman while spinning on the turntable after you heard the song for the first time."

"Jackie!" Zoey embarrassedly covered her face 

Jacqueline patted her sister's back and remarked, "Sorry, I just wanted to prove you're always changing and growing away from who you thought you were and you're becoming you a little more every day."

Zoey answered after thinking a little bit, "I think honestly, I might be a bit of both kinds of girl. There's stereotypical guy things I like but also ones I don't like so I'm not fully a tomboy, and I love girly stuff too but I sure as heck don't like nail varnish, that stuff smells bad."

The humanoid diesel numbered 8200 looked down at her sister's nails and replied, "Guess you learned that today, huh?"

Jackie's sister responded back with a question, not wanting to talk much about Sunday tea and her little Ella Cinderstack style makeover, "How was Vancouver?"

"It rained... and rained, and RAINED, the whole time, but I had a nice time," Jackie responded with a laugh, "I hope I get to go back out there someday."

After a few minutes, Zoey asked, "Hey, sister, since you're in town, want to come and have dinner tonight with me and my Aunts? We're going to Kelekis' for dinner."

Without even any hesitation, Zoey piped up eagerly as she hopped off the sand drum, "It's been a while since I've had some good human fuel, count me in."

To Be Continued


	9. Alice and the Rabbit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a two thirds. The first time I went to Sunday Tea, I met a young diesel around my age. Her name is Alice, and I knew she had to go back to New York, but I wanted so badly to spend more time with her before she left Winnipeg.  
This story is about me, my new friend Alice, switching cars, a wash down, and the Winnipeg Arlington Yard.

Zoey had showed up to Canadian Pacific bright and early on Monday, even though she didn't have to work, she was there for her warm water wash down.  
The GMD GP30 sat in the shops on the rails being hosed down by two workers on her back end and being polished dry on her front end, since it was a job the morning crew split into two so they wouldn't take so long  
She thought to herself as she closed her eyes so the workmen could dry her eyelids carefully, "I wish I had known that washdowns weren't supposed to be ice cold, this feels almost as nice as a human bath, but more awkward because people are here." She internally vowed to herself that some day she'd have her own home so she could take baths herself without human assistance.

Scarlet was on the next tracks over laughing hysterically as she was dried because the drying rags tickled. She snickered as she told Zoey, "Hey, so hahahahaha, Lockport was, hahaha, pfft, so fun yesterday." She couldn't continue to tell about how she and Laurence kissed and how they were now sort of dating.

Laurence who was waiting outside took note of the fact that his lover was ticklish so he could make her laugh whenever she was okay with that.

"Where's Marina?" Zoey asked to the giggling diesel.

The RS23 slightly squirmed and howled with laughter, unable to respond until the workers stopped, she replied, "She went with some Canadian National Railway diesel to the Eatons store."

Zoey was finished being washed down and dried, she looked out and saw a little black SW8 diesel with a yellow face frame and teal-ish blue eyes. It clicked in the mind of the little GP unit who it was and she headed over to see the diesel.

The little New York Central Switcher honked her single tone Leslie A200 quickly as she noticed Zoey and trundled over to say hello to her new friend.  
"Good morning, Zoey. I didn't expect to see you today."

The bespectacled second-built GP30 smiled to Alice before going up to the New York Central diesel that had an odd yellow front, she greeted joyfully, "Hi Alice. What brings you here?"

The SW8 explained embarrassedly, "Canadian National doesn't need my help in the yard, and my guide for Winnipeg has no work today so she left me here to help."

Zoey recalled Cassandra from the other day and nodded, she asked, "So Cass brought along my friend Marina?"

The teal eyed switcher remarked, "I think so, she had eyes way bluer than mine."

"How about I show you around, Alice? I know I'm not working, but it's not work when you're with a friend," Zoey remarked eagerly, her bell ringing joyfully.

Alice rang her EMD steel bell and asked curiously, "So what should we help do?"

Zoey thought for a minuted before she looked up at the station and saw Aunt Sandy and Jackie arranging the next passenger train out of town, Zoey lead the little switcher over close by and asked her sister and the RS3, "Hey, you need some help arranging Aunt Mildred's train?"

Sandra, the RS3, looked to the bespectacled GP30 near her and asked, "Jacqueline, sweetie, did you say something?"

Zoey honked her K3 and exclaimed, "No, I said something, me! Zoey!"

The teal eyes of the MLW diesel looked to the second made GMD GP30 and the black and yellow EMD switcher, she softly apologized, "Gracious, Zoey, I'm sorry I didn't notice you and Alice."

Alice softly remarked as she made eye contact with Jackie, "Hi, your cab is a really nice shape like Zoey's."

The first built GP30 looked to her sister and the little switcher nearby and replied, "Thanks. It's nice to meet an EMD, anyways, yeah Zoe, we could use a little help."

Zoey looked to Alice and instructed gently, "Since the sleeper car and the dining car needs to come in for a wheel replacement, would you like to come with me collect the secondary one from just over by the shops?"

The SW8 softly let out an "mm-hm", passed through the lined up switch and collected the old dining car before getting out of the way for Zoey to collect the sleeper car.

The two switchers headed up the yard with the two passenger train cars in tow so they could have the wheels replaced.  
Alice began to talk softly, "So, those diesels you came with yesterday, are they your familiars?"

"I'm related by metal to my Aunt Mildred, she's the red-headed one, Sandy, the blonde one is her girlfriend, but I consider them married," Zoey explained as she rolled down the line of the yard with her new friend following along.  
The two reached the Weston Shops and with the help of the shop staff, the two diesels uncoupled from the cars.

"Hey look, it's try-hard!" A salty RS3 called out rudely from a bay of the shops where he was having a burnt-out tail bulb replaced.

Marie-Anne was with him as a humanoid, sitting on his pilot and scolded, "Lord sakes, George, Jackie's still in town... But... let's pick on her little friend!"

Alice's engine skipped out of fear and accidentally honked out of panic.

"Did you hear that, Marie?" George laughed, "It's Little Yorkie Foghorn!"

Marie fell onto her side laughing raucously, "Missy Foghorn looks frail as a glass doll."

Alice's eyes started to well up out of shame, she sniffled and hurried off to get away from the mean diesels.

In that moment, something broke in the little GP30. Zoey lost her cool she shrunk down to her human form, her nose twitching rapidly from her raw aggression. She let out a scream of pure rage, clambered up George's pilot, and lunged at Marie.

George was shocked, freezing, not really sure what to do but to him it was exciting to watch the girls fighting.

Zoey kicked Marie and pulled on the jet black braid of the rude little humanoid Baldwin diesel who was trying to scratch up Zoey's arms with her fingernails, causing some amber colour to trickle from the humanoid GP30's arms.

George started cheering on Zoey, "GET HER! HIT HER! YOU'RE STRONGER, ZOE!"

Marie-Anne glared at George and kicked him in the nose with her foot before she tried to put Zoey in a head-lock.

The brunette flipped down off the back of George's catwalk and bolted away to go check on Alice, only to glance back to see an angry Marie-Anne bolting after her.  
She changed back into a diesel and headed for the yard, a plan in her mind, she radioed to the yard managers to switch the points, the humans naively obeying the words of the younger GP30, convincing them she was doing work.

Marie followed Zoey through the rows of boxcars, tankers, and grain hoppers, trying to keep up.

"CP 8201, I need you to switch the north most point to the siding, please, over," Zoey radioed as she crossed over the point she asked to have changed

The humans complied and changed the points to lead to the end of the siding.

Zoey bolted to the turn-table and had herself turned around to watch, smiling smugly. Laurence and Scarlet entered the area of yard and witnessed Marie-Anne being trapped on the siding, in capable of getting herself out without switching a ton of cars.

"WHAT THE HECK?!" Marie exclaimed, unamused, she sulked immensely.

Scarlet laughed in shock.

Laurence called out to his sister, "That's what happens when you bully Zoey."

Marie turned red with embarrassment, sulking angrily.

The humans saw what had happened and laughed from the yard office and the switch control tower. One human radioed to Zoey, "You got through like a rabbit and trapped that coyote in the hole."

More humans who had heard about how Marie was trying to cause Zoey to wreck radioed to Zoey congratulating her on her cleverness, more of them remarking how she was swift thinking and quick on her trucks like a rabbit.

Engines laughed in astonishment and also applauded Zoey with the sound of ringing bells and joyous honks.

The human Yard Manager approached Zoey, unimpressed with the GP30, he crossed his arms as he looked at the GP unit and barked angrily, "What is wrong with you, Zoey, I'm not even remotely amused with this behaviour, I should have you sent away to Montreal to try to understand the French diesels."

The little New York diesel came over and softly interjected, "Mister, Zoey was just protecting me..."

"And why would I even care about the opinion of one of my..." the human began until he looked to the diesel and laughed in shock to see a New York Central switcher, "Oh, sorry, Miss. I didn't know Zoey was trying to protect a lovely visitor such as you." He remarked in hopeful tone, "Please tell your yard managers that we are more than happy to ship diesel fuel to New York." He embarrassedly walked away after his little sales pitched, still shocked that all the trouble was because of a diesel trying to do something good.

The two young diesels looked to see Sandra passing by with the replacement cars for the passenger train.

Zoey softly said with an embarrassed laugh, "Oh, right... we forgot the train cars..."

"Sometimes in life you do something good but you forget something, and that's okay sometimes," Alice responded with a smile to Zoey before the two went to explore the yard and help out where they were needed, thankful that Marie-Anne was put in her place.

To Be Continued


	10. An Insecure GP9 and The New Life of Lottie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a two thirds. So I have a best friend named Marina, she's a GP9 and she and I have been friends for a long time. She's older than me materially and psychologically too. She's normally super pretty, until Cass from Canadian National took her for a makeover and made Marina feel insecure because everyone's saying she's beautiful now as if she wasn't before, which makes me angry.  
Anyways, this is a story about me, Marina, an unwanted makeover, unwanted interjections, and Lottie finding her life's calling.

Morning arrived in Winnipeg, the sun's light kissing Arlington Yard, a stressed and uncomfortable looking Marina was returning to work, her engine clattered upsetly with insecurity. She had been to Eaton's with Cassandra, an F9 Unit from Canadian National the other day, and she underwent an unwanted makeover.

Zoey approached her long time friend with her new friend following along. She greeted concernedly, "Morning, Marina. You alright?"

"I'm as alright as a derailed and spilled grain hopper."

The GP30 consoled gently, "Want to talk about it?"

Marina looked around to make sure no one was looking before she worriedly shrunk down to her human form.

Zoey gasped as she saw her best friend.

The ginger long ringlets of the humanoid GP9 were now replaced with an angled bob, bleached platinum with bangs barely covering her eyebrows. Marina hid her face in her palm and muttered, "I look like a swinger, and I hate it!"

Bill interjected as he opened Zoey's cab window, "I think you look cherry."

Alice glared at Bill before remarking to Marina, "I wish I warned you about Cassandra... She's obsessed with Vidal Sassoon looks and clothes that look like they're from the future."

Marina was about to shape shift back when she was spotted by Red, an RS23, called out, "Nice new look, Marine," followed by another call out by a GP7, "Sleek new 'do, cous'."  
She shifted her form back, feeling even more insecure, but not before it was noticed by Laurence, who greeted her with, "Wow! You look so pretty as a blonde!"

The GP9 let out a shout of anger and stormed off, heading for her jobs switching cars.

Zoey glared at Laurence and exclaimed, "What's wrong with you?! That's like saying she was ugly before."

Laurence was befuddled, he meant to be nice, he left Zoey be.

Zoey's driver was about to quell her but she shouted to him, "Bill Symanski, I DON'T want any input right now," as her gears grinded out of anger that everyone was making Marina upset.

The little GP30 headed over to help Charlotte with disassembling a train at the entrance of the yard, her compressor huffed in anger.

The Royal Hudson numbered 2828 tooted her whistle to greet the young diesel and greeted, "Good morning, my dear. Goodness you look cross about something."

"My friend got made-over unwantedly and now she's upset and nearly everyone is telling her she's prettier now," the younger GP30 grumbled.

Lottie sighed and replied as she coupled up to some grain hoppers and pulled them forward after a yard worker unhooked them from the tankers behind it, "Oh gracious, I know that feeling. Being the odd child, my sisters from the same batch liked to swarm me and put makeup on me, even if it irritated my skin." 

"No, her hair got cropped to her chin and is white as light, it looks really... not good."

The dusty old Hudson responded gently, "Do you mean the little GP9 girl with the normally fiery hair?", after a little 'mmm-hmm' from Zoey, she responded, "That's a shame, she really was quite adorable as she was. You should see if your Aunt Sandy could fix it a little."

"I could ask if she could borrow a weave-tail so it looks like she has a ponytail," Zoey thought out loud as she went to collect the tanker cars. She stopped and began to think, asking to Lottie worriedly, "Charlotte? What if the others think I should look that way too?"

The Royal Hudson thought both about that and how Zoey was built with a mistake, she stated softly, "I really hope not, you're trying to grow your human-form hair out right? I think it'll look nice long."

Zoey's worry about what others would maybe want made her insecure, recounting a memory when she was once called a 'ragamuffin' when she began getting longer human form hair while still not out of the closet about her gender.

Meanwhile, Alice was with Marina, the New York switcher was consoling the cousin of her new friend as they worked taking a short train of coal and diesel to the Canadian National yard.  
Marina ranted, "I'm so mad at Cass, and I'm even more mad at everyone else who is complimenting me after I tell them I don't like it."

"Well, I mean, others don't really understand. Sometimes, change is bad and people don't understand, and that's just how it goes." Alice answered knowledgefully, "Like I used to have a nicer horn, my one from the factory was broken so they let me borrow a M3, but once they fixed my old horn, I got it back and now I hate it."

The two girls approached the yard in the rural town, ready to disassemble the train before collecting some grain cars that would be headed to Montreal via their flag.

Late afternoon had come and the yard manager approached Lottie and Zoey who were now assembling a train headed out of town, he greeted the Royal Hudson in a polite tone, "Good Afternoon, Charlotte Ruth Jewelle, I have some good news and some not so good news."

"What is the bad news, sir, I can handle it," Charlotte answered, holding back her anxiety.

"Well, we no longer can keep you here. I'm terribly sorry but we must let you go."

Lottie was upset until she thought about the wording and asked, "Letting me go?"

He nodded and responded with a smile as he showed her a document, "You're free to leave and live out the rest of your existence, we know you've been a really splendid worker, so we have a little severance package ready for you."

Charlotte's eyes welled up with tears of joy and sadness, she admitted, "Thank you so much, although I'll miss being here. Thank you so much, Mr.Johnson."

Mr. Johnson remarked as he turned the clipboard back to face himself, "At the end of your day, stop by the yard office and we can sign you off properly and give you the money we feel you deserve." The suited Anglo-Canadian man headed back to the yard office.

Lottie stopped and thought a bit, realizing what this meant, she looked over to Zoey and responded, "I can't be an engine anymore, what am I going to do?"

Zoey blurted out, due in part to her concern about Lottie's safety, "You can come stay with my Aunts and I until you get back on your trucks!"

"Thanks dear, but, I might never get to run on rails again. Steam is dead," the green eyed steamer responded, her firebox dimmed a little out of mourning for all she knew.

"What's a career that you wanted to do as a human but couldn't as an engine?" The beautifully designed GP30 asked as she backed some boxcars onto the train.

Lottie responded insecurely, "If you promise not to laugh..."

"I won't judge."

"I wanted to be an artist, but it's not financially stable work, so I don't know what to do..."

Zoey's mind was partially thinking about Lottie's situation and about Marina's before she answered as the idea came to her mind, "You could be an apprentice to my Aunt Sandy, she sometimes needs a second set of hands."  
The young diesel, once unhooked hurried along to the fuelling station where she had seen the RS3 named Sandra Flores head.

Sandy looked over to see her niece approaching and greeted, "Good afternoon, sweetie, what's troubling you?"

Zoey took a deep breath in, causing her compressor to kick on, before she explained, "Marina got a really bad hair cut so she needs you to use your magic to make her feel more normal until it grows back, and Charlotte is being let go. I offered Charlotte a place at our place and said maybe you'd take her in as an apprentice, maybe... Please don't be mad."

The MLW tried to process everything she just heard and knew she didn't have Mildred's help until at least Friday, so she answered, seeming to cave to her niece's pleas, "I'll see what I can do for Marina, as for Lottie, she's family, so I wouldn't mind her helping me and me helping her."

Marina and Alice re-entered the yard from the back and dropped off the line of cars for Scarlet and Laurence to sort. Marina was completely emotionally done with everything, she rolled up to the MLW and the other GMD GP unit and pleaded, "Please fix me! I know it's short notice, but PLEASE FIX ME!"

After Lottie went and claimed her cheque for $218.40 Canadian dollars and a small basket of Morden apples, the Royal Hudson, the RS3, the SW8, the GP9, and the GP30 all headed up the line to close by Euclid Avenue and went to the apartment.

Charlotte was nervous, she had no formal practice with human form aesthetics except on herself.

Sandra and Zoey were readying everything they'd need to help Marina feel more normal.

Zoey pulled open the vanity desk's drawer that had the sew on weaves and picked out one that was platinum blonde and set it down on the desk.

Marina couldn't stand looking at her reflection in the mirror and asked, "Hey, can I sit away from the mirror? I hate looking at myself like this." She stood up and turned the wooden chair so the back was facing the mirror, sat back down and pleaded, "Now can someone make me look more like me?"

Charlotte took out of her purse a set of watercolour paints and began thinking.

Sandra examined her bottles on the desk before she started pulling back some longer strands towards the back using some conditioner and hairspray to make a non-greasy gel to make the weave look like a natural ponytail when it would be affixed.

Charlotte got a glass of water and crushed up some blue watercolour tablets, and dipped the pale blonde weave into the glass.

Sandra was shocked by Charlotte's actions, she inquired worriedly, "Um, what are you doing with the weave ponytail?"

"Oh, I thought to add some blue to match her eyes, I know it's kind of unheard of, but I think it'd look nice," the Royal Hudson explained as she dipped an eye dropper into the mix and took a hold of some of Marina's bangs and dripped on the watercolour and rubbed it into the humanoid GP9's bleached hair.

Marina asked excitedly, "Can you make it lots more blue?"

Zoey laughed and went to get a blue permanent marker from the drawer in the kitchen, hoping that it would help.

Sandra stood back and let her artsy steam-sibling do her work, watching Charlotte set down the eye dropper and examine the back where it had been cropped down to only an inch from the skin.

Lottie thanked Zoey, gratefully took the marker from the humanoid GP30, and uncapped the marker before starting to colour the short strands at the back making the hair a deep ocean blue.

"That marker stinks, are you sure you're doing it right?" Marina asked as she sat perfectly still.

"I've never done this before, but I'm an artist, so I know it'll look great," Lottie soothed as she finished colouring the last little bit of short strands before pulling the weave out of the glass and squeezed out the excess water to show that it was now half pale blue, she affixed it with an elastic to the natural hair of Marina and let Sandy be able to sew it together.

Zoey watched curiously, feeling better that Marina would feel more true to herself even if she looked rather different still.

Sandra affixed the extension to the section of the platinum bob of Marina, and fluffed out the faux ponytail and used a little hairspray on her fingers to make the GP9's bangs shaped like Audrey Hepburn's so it didn't look so plain and flat.  
She patted Marina on the back and softly asked, "Marina, sweetie, try looking at yourself now."

The GP9 stood up and turned to see herself in the mirror, she smiled in surprise and exclaimed eagerly, "I look beyond nifty!" She ran her fingers through the weave ponytail carefully before hugging Lottie and Sandra at the same time, exclaiming, "It feels so real! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Lottie warned with a laugh, "Just go easy on the wash-downs, and try to avoid human-form washdowns and it'll make the colour last longer."

Marina let go of the two engines who had helped her feel normal again and ran off to go show everyone her improved new look, and excited to tell about Lottie's dyeing skills.

Sandra remarked to her humanoid steam-powered familiar, "Well, Lottie, looks like you have promising skills. I can't wait to have you help me with helping my clients."

The humanoid GP30 proclaimed joyfully, her hands twitching with joy, "Well, Charlotte, you truly are a remarkable artist."

The blonde humanoid Hudson picked up Zoey and laughed joyously as she remarked, "Dear, you can call me Lottie!"

To Be Continued


	11. The Pink with Plaid Perdicament Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a three fourths. So sometimes, who am I kidding, every weekend my Aunt Mildred is home, she likes to go shopping for clothing. Typically she looks at the Hudson's Bay store and Eatons, and there's even times she brings home something for Aunt Sandra or I, but I'll never forget one gift she brought home one Saturday  
Anyways, this is a story about me, my Aunt Mildred, a plaid pleated skirt, Marie-Anne, Winnipeg, and a choice to not speak up that I regretted.

Winnipeg was sunny and calm that 1963 Summer Saturday, Zoey was outside of the apartment, running through the sprinkler the landlord had put on the grass on the apartment building's lawn. The little brunette giggled excitedly as she ran through the sprinkler in Aunt Sandy's childhood pink and white polka dot one-piece bathing suit. Zoey ran out of the sprinkler and went to the steps where her towel was draped over the railing and her glasses were kept safely near by in her Bugs Bunny metal lunch box.  
The brunette squeezed the water from her hair and dried off with the sun-warmed towel, before draping the towel over a drier spot on the grass to relax.

The sprinkler soon turned off, making the humanoid GP30 disappointed. She wished she could play longer in the sprinkler, but the landlord had to save water. The disappointed young girl began to pack up her towel before putting on her glasses to see a taxi pull up to the walk.  
"AUNT MILDRED!" Zoey joyously exclaimed before running up to her Aunt who had just come back from shopping.

The humanoid F7P looked down at her niece and with a shocked laugh, she greeted, "Goodness dear, you're sopping, I'm guessing it was sprinkler day?" 

"It was fun! I really love when I'm home for sprinkler day." The brown eyed girl exclaimed, her hands twitching with excitement.

Mildred got closer down to Zoey's level and remarked jovially, "I love shopping, and I managed to find something for you, this time."

Zoey ran back and gathered up her towel and lunch box before heading to the apartment door to hold it open for her maroon-haired aunt.

The two headed up to the apartment, and Zoey helped take some bags from her Aunt's arms and set them down on the coffee table before doing so again with the second set and third set of shopping bags.

Zoey started rummaging through a paper bag from a Safeway grocery store. She pulled out a bunch of boxes of vanilla Jello pudding mix and a jar of marachino cherries.

Mildred chuckled and responded with a laugh, "I was thinking of making a vanilla pudding pie with some cherries."

The bespectacled brunette eagerly, "I bet that will be super yummy! Thanks Aunt Mildred!"

Her attention shifted as Mildred walked over to an Eatons bag and pulled out a box with a bow on it. She handed it to her niece and remarked happily, "Here you go, my bunny."

Zoey took off the ribbon carefully and opened the box, she was expecting to see a puzzle or some books, she was greeted with a red and blue plaid pleated knee length skirt. Zoey, unintentionally let out a tiny squeal of delight before she looked back up at her Aunt Mildred who was beaming with joy.

"Take the skirt out, dear, there's more," Mildred suggested softly as she looked through one of her bags from the Bay for some rose scented perfume.

Zoey hurried back over to the box lifted the skirt out and was greeted with a pale pink short sleeved blouse. She hugged her aunt and exclaimed joyfully, "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, Aunt Mildred! This looks so pretty! I can't wait to wear it!"

"I'm so glad you love it, dear. I thought it would look just so adorable on you to tea tomorrow."

"Oh! Right Sunday Tea!" The little humanoid diesel remarked as she held up the blouse to look at it better, "I'm so excited, I hope I get to see Alice again."

"Oh, goodness, no, she can't make tea..."

"She went home, I presume?" Zoey sighed, sad with the presumption that her new friend had went home.

Mildred responded reassuringly, "Goodness no, however, she pulled a spring and missed the long haul back to New York. She's going home the Monday after this one, but she can't make tea because Canadian National is closed on Sundays, and she won't be repaired by then."

Zoey was slightly relieved, but felt bad for her friend. She asked softly, "Aunt Mildred, may I go see Alice? To cheer her up?"

"Oh, of course, dear," Mildred answered happily before heading over to the kitchen, getting out a small brown paperbag and opening up the cookie jar. She trilled happily as she put cookies in a bag, "I think you should take some of these for her, just don't eat any on the way. One cookie turns into two, turns into all five."

The brunette giggled and responded, "Thanks, I remember, I won't eat the cookies, I promise," before going to get changed into her new outfit for her journey over to CN.  
The brunette stepped out of her bedroom; her hair brushed slightly straighter adorned with a white bow, the new outfit on, and wearing a polished pair of leather work shoes with a slight heel, Zoey took the bag of cookies and headed out to bring the treat to her American friend. 

The young GMD General Purpose unit ran excitedly to the train tracks on the south side of Sutherland Avenue. She waited until the tracks were clear before standing on the tracks. She focused hard and twitched her nose before shifting forms to her diesel form, with the bag of cookies safely inside her cab. However, she looked a little different as her outfit wasn't her normal colours, where she was normally grey on her paint work, she had a pastel pink, and where the yellow was normally was white as the silk ribbon she had as a human. Her maroon was now a lighter red with the Canadian Pacific written in the royal blue that was on her plaid skirt.  
Zoey was oblivious to her odd paint scheme and hurried along the line to the seemingly abandoned Canadian Pacific yard out near Transcona in hopes to take the connecting line over to the Canadian National shops.  
She rumbled along proudly, ringing her bell at every crossing, and honking her horn not just before a crossing but whenever a human waved at her. The little diesel was happy and cheerful.

When she reached the old dilapidated yard she found that it wasn't so abandoned, old steam locomotives were waiting there to find out what was going to be their fate.  
Zoey approached a Royal Hudson and softly asked, "Excuse me, Miss, how do I get to the CNR yard?"

The sooty and retired MLW steamer opened her eyes from her nap, dreaming of the good-old-days. Her number was slightly illegible from all the dirt only showing a 2,8, and a 6, in that order. She responded softly, "Gracious, dear, what are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to get to the Transcona Shops to see one of my friends."

The Hudson yawned, still a little sleepy, "That sounds lovely. How's my sister Lottie doing?"

Zoey responded happily, "She's taken on a new job recently as..."

The Royal Hudson interrupted Zoey, "Goodness, your paint, dear, those aren't normal Canadian Pacific roster colours."

The little GP30 couldn't see but figured out why it might be, "I dressed in human clothes that aren't the right colours."

"They look lovely though, don't fret too much," The green eyed steam engine remarked gently, "Now, you were saying about Lottie?"

Zoey continued with a stammer, "Y-yeah, Canadian Pacific let her go, s-so long as she would live out the rest of her life as a human. She's apprenticing my Aunt Sandra."

"Sandra? Oh, why I didn't know she had a niece."

The GP30 explained, "Her and Mildred were asked by management to teach me to be a little lady. GMD built me without a puella nor eyelashes and I recently got my lashes."

The engine studied the young diesel's face to see the beautiful winged eyeliner style eyelashes the bespectacled engine had. She reassured kindly, "Montreal Locomotive Works never believed in the puella system, and besides your lashes look so nice they look like they were from-factory."

"Aw, bless your boiler, thank you so much, Missus..."

"Oh, my name doesn't matter anymore, sweetheart, but the sentiment is appreciated."

"Alright, Missus!" Zoey remarked with a smile, "I'll just call you Missus."

The Hudson chuckled and softly replied, "Thank you, Miss..."

"Oh, my name is Zoey."

The Royal Hudson looked more at Zoey's slightly freckled pale face, "Oh, right, Jacqueline's younger sibling. It's nice to meet you."  
She realized that Zoey had asked a little while ago how to get out of the yard, she apologized, "Oh, goodness, you asked how to leave this yard... Well, you went the wrong way, you need to take the spur at the end of this yard towards the north-east, then follow the Canadian National line until you hit another spur, follow it south-east and then you'll be headed towards the shops."

"Oops," Zoey responded with a giggle, "Thanks for helping me, Missus, I hope I'll see you again someday." She began heading to the spur at the end of the yard.

The GP30 followed the instructions of the MLW retired steamer and in hardly any time at all, she had made it to the CNR Shops in Transcona, she rang her bell as she approached the shops, seeing a green and yellow GMD-1, she hurried over to talk to him.  
"Good afternoon, Uncle Greg."

The diesel looked over to Zoey and remarked friendily, "Is it afternoon already? The humans finished my repairs, also goodness, kid, you look strange."

Zoey laughed softly responding, "Yeah I put on some clothes on that weren't my work ones." She asked as she looked around, "Hey so, where's the New York switcher girl?"

"She's over in bay 12," the GMD1 responded, "After all, I'm Gregory James L. Jr and I try to know as much as I can so I can help anyone."

Zoey laughed slightly at the little explanation of the quirky GMD1, he was nothing like Captain Firecracker, and that made her happy. She politely remarked, "Thank you again, Uncle Greg, you're a good guy."  
She focused deeply, twitched her nose and shifted to her human form while holding the bag of cookies, she skipped happily over to the 12th bay of the shops.

The New York SW8 was sitting in the shop bay on the tracks, bored out of her mind while waiting for her repairs. Her eyes lit up with joy as she saw Zoey, causing her to exclaim happily, "Zoey! I didn't think I'd see you today! I love your outfit."

Zoey giggled and remarked, "You're a gem, Alice. I brought you some cookies." 

The SW8 shifted her form to be her kiddish form, she hobbled over to and sat down on a crate near by because her ankle ached horribly.

The brunette sat next to her friend and handed her friend the brown bag of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

"Bless you so much, Zoe," Alice remarked as she opened the bag and offered one to Zoey.

The humanoid GP30 accepted the cookie with a smile and watched as her friend fished out a cookie.  
The two enjoyed their cookies while talking for a little bit, this was the happiest Alice had been since she last saw Zoey. 

The happiness was cut short by Marie-Anne who had been taking a cigarette break and was walking back to the yard to head back to Arlington, she rudely interrupted, "Wow, Zoey, you keep getting more pathetic every time I see you. Also, big sister can't protect you here."

"Go away, Marie. I don't have time for this..." Zoey huffed annoyedly.

"Okay, but really, Zoe, a tartan skirt with a THAT blouse... like, Lord-Almighty, it's like you're screaming that you're not a real girl."

Zoey stood up and exclaimed angrily, "That's enough!" She hopped off the box and ran full tilt at the humanoid Baldwin diesel before tackling her bully aggressively. She yelled, "I stopped you once, I can do it again."

"What will it prove if you beat me up? That you're a brutish man?" Marie-Anne scoffed, "So, not only will you look like a drag but you'll be acting manly." She smirked as she saw Zoey's eyes lose their fire of anger.

Zoey stepped back and got away from Marie-Anne, she went to sulk in the corner.

"I've been a girl all my life, puella and all, Zoe, if you try hard enough maybe you'll be as good as me."

Zoey looked around to see where Alice had disappeared to.

Greg approached the door with a hobbling Alice.

The little SW8 remarked, "There, Mr. Gregory, there's the mean diesel hurting my best friend's feelings."

Gregory walked over and picked up the teenager by the collar of her blouse, he inquired, "Do I have to call Walshaert to deal with you?"

"N-no, sir..." Marie-Anne stammered, afraid of the VIA class leader. Once she was let go of she bolted off fearfully and got back to work.

Zoey, despite being saved, yet again, was severely disheartened, heading back to her home near Euclid Avenue, feeling like she was a joke.

To Be Continued


	12. The Pink with Plaid Perdicament Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a three fourths. Aunt Mildred bought me a present last week, a lovely skirt, but it's got me in nothing but trouble. I don't know what to do, I don't have the heart to tell Aunt Mildred that her gift for me is getting me bullied.  
Anyways, this is a story about me, my Aunt Mildred, a plaid pleated skirt, Marie-Anne, Winnipeg, a choice to not speak up that I regretted.

Sunday morning arrived in the Point Douglas neighbourhood. Lottie had already left to go do some nail art for some humanoid F-Units who would be headed out of town on Monday, Mildred was preparing a simple breakfast while Sandy had been working on re-organizing her beauty kit until she saw it was 8:30 and headed to Zoey's bedroom door and knocked on it before the humanoid RS3 softly greeted, "Zoey, sweetie, it's time to wake up. Sunday Tea is this noon," 

The brunette stirred tiredly and called out, "I don't feel well, Aunt Sandy," before coughing, pretending to be ill.  
She covered her face with a pillow. She didn't want to leave the house trying to even dress girly because of the two times Marie-Anne, a rude DS-4-4-1000.

Mildred entered the bedroom carrying the first aid kit and some Buckley's cough syrup. She proclaimed worriedly, "Hold on dear, Aunt Mildred will help you fight off that cold."

Zoey pleaded, "No, no not like that! I don't have a cold," she couldn't stand the taste of the cough syrup. She sighed and explained, "I have..." she began to think for a few seconds before answering, "Uh... a tummy ache..."

Mildred responded in a almost happy surprise, "OHHH! Our little Zoey is getting the growing pains! That means you're developing into a young woman."

Sandra softly yet sternly rebutted, "Mildred, Zoey's not due for the lady pains for another few years. It's more likely her fuel tank had gunk in it and she's not feeling so great."

"Yeah, I feel gunked up, bluh." Zoey responded sadly, "Now I can't go to Sunday Tea."

"Oh goodness, sweetie, that's awful."

Mildred interjected, "We can have the cab driver drop you off at Arlington so you can be flushed out."

"Sure..." Zoey didn't want to go to work, she didn't want to have to be near Marie-Anne.

Sandra worriedly remarked, "Zoey, sweetheart, is there something troubling you that's upsetting your tummy? As in someone at work?"

"N-no... rocks and branches may dent and leave scratches, but words aren't supposed to hurt... right?"

Sandra and Mildred looked at each other worriedly before the mahogany haired humanoid FP7 answered, "Dear, you don't know that's a load of, forgive my language, scrap."

"Words cut rather deep, sweetie. If someone is hurting you, please let us know..."

Zoey blurted it out as she began sobbing, "It's Marie-Anne."

"Countess' granddaughter? Goodness, I knew something wasn't right about that kid," Mildred retorted, angry that anyone would harbour any ill-will towards her niece. The curvy woman asked curiously, "Would you like me to talk to Countess?"

"NO!" Zoey blurted out, afraid it would only make Marie-Anne come after her worse. She nervously laughed and stammered, "I-I mean... umm.. haha, n-no thanks..."

Aunt Sandra soothed, "Oh, Zoey, we could tell management anonymously instead and talk to Countess and ask her to keep it quiet."

Zoey quaked at the thought and remarked, "Let me see if I can handle it first, please."

The two left Zoey's room worried for their niece and brought her a light breakfast before they began to get ready for tea.

The humanoid GP30 sat on her bed as she sipped the milk while she thought about how embarrassing it would be if she couldn't handle things herself. She took a bite out of some toast with strawberry jam and looked up at her vanity desk. She glanced at the mirror and saw herself, hearing the words ringing in her head that Marie-Anne had said the day prior and as well as a week ago;

"Wow, Zoey, you keep getting more pathetic every time I see you"  
"Lord-Almighty, it's like you're screaming that you're not a real girl..."  
"Awww, is the little girly going to cry?"  
"you look like a drag..."

Her thoughts then remembered what the GMD1 from Alberta had said to her, causing her mood to sink further.  
The brown eyed girl then heard in her head a voice in the back of her mind, "You'll never be a real girl, you know what you are."  
The teary eyed Zoey set down her toast and milk and walked out of her room silently, stopping at the hall closet to rummage through Lottie's sewing kit until she found sewing shears. She made a bee-line for the bathroom and closed the door. She sniffled softly to herself as she stood on the short stool in front of looked at her reflection in the mirror, "I'm not a real girl... I don't want to do it but I can't be a girl." Shakily, the fair skinned girl raised the steel shears to her messy brown curls that she hadn't even brushed yet, she dropped them on the floor and sobbed, "I don't wanna do this, but I'm not a real girl... I'm a joke... I'm a..."

The door opened, Sandra came in to see Zoey standing in front of the mirror crying, a pair of scissors on the floor. She knew the day would eventually come when she'd see her niece completely dysphoric. She hurriedly scooped up the sniffling Zoey in her arms and held her niece tightly.

"A-A-Aunt S-Sandy... I-I'm... I'm... I'm a m-mistake..." Zoey wept as she went completely limp as she was held by her RS3 Aunt who was in a humanoid form, feeling completely worthless.

Sandy brought Zoey to the couch and sat her down before worriedly remarking, "Zoey, sweetheart, you weren't happy back when you were..." she thought carefully about her next words before she answered, "before you were who you are now. I know, you would do something loud and silly for approval once in a while but then the rest of the time you were quiet and scared and could barely function when Jacqueline wasn't in town. You once tried to run away from Canadian Pacific because you didn't feel happy... You aren't a boy. You weren't happy as a boy." She asked softly, "I now feel like Countess' granddaughter is behind these feelings you are enduring right now. I think you should tell me what's going on, sweetheart."

The floodgates opened for the GP30, her crying became more uncontrollable, she shook like a leaf. Her tiny voice trembled as she answered to her unlicenced beautician aunt, "Wh-Whenever Marie s-sees my g-girly o-outfits she c-calls me a-a-a tr-try hard." Zoey sniffled and continued, "Sh-she made me h-hate m-my pl-plaid skirt I got y-yesterday, sh-she says I l-look l-like a d-drag."

Sandra soothed again her hand on Zoey's back to try to quell her niece's woes, "Sweetheart, no... you don't look like you're a drag. You look like any normal little girl. I promise."  
She hugged the little humanoid diesel tightly before drying the young girl's eyes. She suggested gently, "Come with us to tea, it might make you feel better."

Zoey calmed down and got ready for Sunday tea, deciding on wearing her plaid skirt, proudly, glad no one would be there to belittle her nor put her down. When it was 11:30, she accompanied her Aunts Mildred and Sandra to the Hotel Fort Garry via taxi-cab.  
The humanoid diesel family-unit entered the round room off of the lobby.

Zoey stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Marie-Anne sitting at the table, chewing on some Juicy Fruit gum.

"Mildred, love, if Zoey gets uncomfortable, we should go home." Sandy whispered to her girlfriend before the entered the restaurant and sat down at the table, Zoey sitting right between her Aunts hoping they'd keep her safe.

Marie-Anne was dressed in a lacy peach dress and a white pill box hat, she remarked with a slight mocking laugh, "Oh, hey, Zoe. Nice skirt, very... uhh... avant garde"

Zoey turned red with annoyance and didn't say much of anything, she was irked with her bully for intruding on tea time.

Countess remarked softly, "I brought along my granddaughter because I thought it would be nice since Alice and Zoey came last week."

The brunette in the bow stood up and remarked with a huff, "Excuse me, I'm going to powder my nose." She stood up and stormed off.

The humanoid Baldwin diesel softly remarked in a pretend-worried tone, "Gracious, I should go see if she's alright. She seems to be in a huff."  
Marie-Anne cautiously followed after Zoey, happy to get in a quick chance to bully the GP30, oblivious if someone was following her.

The humanoid GP30 crossly sat on the counter of the women's washroom, not wanting come out so long as her bully was there. She heard the bathroom door and looked over to see Marie-Anne entering the bathroom.  
She yelled at her enemy, "GO AWAY! You're not welcome to Sunday Tea, even."

Marie walked up to Zoey and flicked the nose of the younger diesel, scoffing, "Pfft, as if I'll go away. My Grandmother is the CP Arlington Symbol. And, besides, you look ridiculous! You can hardly call yourself a girl."  
She picked Zoey up by the neck and remarked, "And, no one is going to know. I can keep tormenting you until the B-Units come home."  
The humanoid Baldwin didn't even hear the door open to the bathroom as she mocked, "You and your stupid manly kilt are barely acceptable here at Sunday tea."  
Suddenly the dark haired girl was interrupted by a tapping on her shoulder, she set down Zoey and turned her focus to who was interrupting her.

It was Mildred, she glared down at the short teenager and smacked the humanoid Baldwin across the face enough to leave a red mark but not enough to bruise.

"B-but, you're feminine, WHY WOULD YOU HIT ME?" Marie-Anne asked in shock as she rubbed her right cheek.

Mildred huffed, "It's less lady-like to not defend your family from bullies," she then put her hands on her hips as she sternly demanded, "You leave my niece alone, you fiend."  
The FP7 helped her niece out off of the counter and headed back to the lounge.

Countess looked up from her tea and saw Zoey, whose neck had amber marks on it.

Mildred explained, "Countess, with all due respect, your granddaughter has been harassing my niece. I just walked into the bathroom to see your Marie-Anne strangling my poor Zoey and talking down to her."

Sandra interjected as she set down her teaspoon, "She's caused our little bunny to feel dysphoric and we need it to stop."

Countess saw the fear still in the eyes of the GP30 when her pseudo-grandchild ran in from the bathroom, her right cheek slightly reddish from the slightly abrasive hit.  
She looked to Marie and remarked sternly, "Marie, I've seen enough to know you need some straightening out. Monday morning, you're being sent away to Montreal."

Marie-Anne fumed as she stormed out of the where the other humanoid engines were gathered for tea.  
Countess followed and went to the front desk to borrow the phone to call for a cab back to Canadian Pacific.

Zoey looked down to her skirt ashamedly, she remarked, "Aunt Mildred, I'm sorry my skirt caused so much trouble, I wish I didn't come here, now Laurence's sibling has to go to Montreal."

"Oh, dear, it wasn't your skirt that was the problem, Marie-Anne has some very backwards attitudes," Mildred soothed before remarking, "Alright, let's try having tea again."

Zoey picked up her tea cup with the milk and honey tea and took a sip, thankful her problems for now were solved.

To Be Continued


	13. A Very Special Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a three fourths. I have two aunts, yes, they're gay. Aunt Mildred is related to me by metal, and my Aunt Sandy is her girlfriend. Aunt Sandy is a Montreal Locomotives Work RS3, and once in a while she gets to do passenger service for commuter trains.

This is a story about me, my Aunt Sandy, and a very special day in Winnipeg.

A sunny summer Monday morning arrived, there was a slight wind so it wasn't too hot, a perfect day for most engines working the Arlington Yards.

Zoey and her aunts Mildred and Sandra arrived at the yard bright and early for their shift, changing into their diesel form once standing on sidings where it was safe to do so.

#22, a Canadian Locomotives Work diesel, approached the three and greeted cheerfully, "Ah, Zoey and Sandra, the two diesels I wanted to see this morning."

"Good Morning Mr. 22!" Zoey greeted back cheerfully, ringing her bell happily.

The RS3 with the freckly face asked gently, "How may we help you this morning, 22?"

The Canadian Locomotives Work diesel instructed, "You two are to collect some coaches and head to the station to collect your drivers, you two are working the commuter route."

Zoey honked excitedly before realizing she had no experience with passengers. She asked to 22, "Mister... are you sure you want me to help my Aunt Sandy?"

Sandra looked to her niece and reassured gently, "Oh, sweetie, you'll do fine, and if you need help, just ask me."

22 laughed and gladly remarked, "Great! Management thought it would be nice for you to spend the day together to bond." He began reversing as he happily bid farewell to the two switchers, "You two will do great, I am sure of it."

Zoey eagerly went to retrieve the passenger cars, heading up the yard to the Weston Shops where the staff had cleaned the coaches on the Saturday evening. She proudly coupled up to them with the help of the shop staff and pulled them to where her Aunt Sandra was. She honked proudly as one of the yard human staff helped Zoey uncouple from the front so she could go to the rear of the train.

Sandra coupled up to the front of the passenger train and called back to her niece, "Zoey, sweetie, couple up at the back."

The GP30 reversed onto a siding and across a switch to get to the proper tracks once again, coupling up to the passenger train. 

Once the yard worker helped the two couple on properly, the two diesels headed to the Canadian Pacific station platform and eagerly awaited for the passengers and their drivers.

Bill approached his favourite diesel and greeted happily, "Morning, Zoey. We're helping with passenger duty today?"

The bespectacled beautifully designed GP unit answered back, "Yeah, but I am a little worried, I've never done this before."

The lanky fellow in the striped overalls hopped onto Zoey's catwalk and headed into her cab, reassuring, "Don't sweat it too much, kid. You have Sandra to help you. She knows a lot even if she's on the quiet side."

Once the commuting passengers had boarded, Sandra loaded up slowly, released her brakes and slowly notched forward to begin her journey along the commuter line with her niece and the passenger cars.

Zoey who was surprised by the fact her tractive motor did something she didn't know how to do. She whispered to herself what she sensed, hoping to remember it. The little GP30 giggled excitedly as the train, lead by her Aunt Sandra, headed in the direction of the Whittier Subdivision. She glanced over at all the industrial buildings they were passing, wowed by the the Vulcan Iron Works, but trying to not breathe through her nose as the stench of molten iron and a seemingly sulphurous smell was in the air. The scent faded from the air as they approached a grain refinery and flour mill, it was a far better to breathe in the air around the mill, and even better when they crossed by a lumber mill as the scent of fresh cut pine hung in the air.  
Zoey was lead along by her Aunt and the passenger cars, watching the scenery change from an industrial area over to the large old Concordia Hospital across the river surrounded by medium sized trees. She liked how the hospital looked and that the concept of a repair shop for humans. She felt the train come to a stop when they crossed the river. She looked over to a tiny little station where people were waiting for their morning train.

Porters opened the doors for the passengers and helped them on. Business people, parents with their children, some elderly people who didn't have automobiles, all got on board the short-line coaches.   
One passenger yet to board looked up at Zoey. She was a little 5 year old with her mother. She asked to Zoey as they were on the far side of the platform, "Miss Train? Why do you wear glasses?"

Zoey responded, "Well, sometimes the factory makes an oops and some diesels need glasses because of that. If I'm going to be honest, I like wearing them."

The little girl looked to her mommy and then continued to the diesel, "My Mommy is taking me to the op-tomi... optimitris... Eye doctor today. I'm scared I might need glasses for reading. Will kids pick on me?"

The GP30 remarked kindly, "I've never really been picked on for having glasses, but if you do, just wait a few years. I have a feeling glasses are going to become cool. My Aunt Mildred has some that have no lenses and are just for fashion."

The little girl smiled and remarked happily, "Thanks, Miss Train!" before boarding along side her mother, who glanced thankfully at Zoey.

William tapped Zoey's control stand and softly said to his favourite diesel, "That was brilliant, Zoey. How'd you know how to do that?"

"I'm a kid too, heck I'm sometimes scared myself of going in for repairs."

The two diesels continued down the line after a while.  
For the morning, they'd stop at the stations and substations to drop off and pick up passengers, all the while, Zoey when she would start forward with her Aunt Sandy's help would utter to herself, "load up before releasing brakes, notch forward slowly," a few times, hoping to etch it into her mind.

Noon arrived and the commuter train had stopped at the McPhilips Station, and Zoey and Sandra both were allowed a 30 minute break to stretch as humans and either refuel as engines or as people, as their engineers had gone in to use the break room about a minute after arriving.  
Sandra focused deep and shifted her form to her human form before walking up the steps at the edge of the platform and walking to her niece who was in the midst of focusing deeply. 

Zoey twitched her nose before she was able to become her humanoid self, she flung herself onto the platform into laying down on the concrete and let out a little laugh at how silly she had just been before standing up and dusting herself off. She looked to Aunt Sandra and asked, "Can we have some human fuel, Aunt Sandy?"

Sandra laughed and remarked as she began to head into the station, "Sure thing, sweetie."

A human approached them, wearing the standard suit and conductors cap that a lot of guy station workers wore carrying a small picnic basket. He asked to the two humanoid diesels, "Are you two CP 8444 and 5001?"  
Upon the two nodding he handed them the picnic basket and remarked, "Mildred, 4099, left this here this morning and said that you two would be picking it up at noon. I guess she made you two some lunch."

Zoey took the basket and opened it excitedly, seeing a thermos presumably of tomato soup as that was Sandra's favourite, some garlic bread rolls, two jars of fruit salad, two glass bottles of 7up, and some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Sandra laughed softly as she looked at the picnic lunch Mildred had packed for her, "Leave it to my lovely wife to leave such a surprise for me and our niece."

Zoey and Sandra went out onto the platform and sat down on a bench, enjoying their little lunch.

The brunette asked as she opened the lid on her fruit salad jar, "Aunt Sandy? How come you do the thing where you load up before releasing brakes and then notch forward slowly?" I noticed that and I never knew that was possible.

"Oh, sweetie, well... to put it simply, it's a handy trick you learn from passenger pulling. If I didn't do it I might jolt them all out of their seats..." The humanoid RS3 answered as she poured some soup into a tea cup she had borrowed from the station staff. She sipped the soup before explaining, "You have to think about being extremely gentle, you slowly bring yourself up as you remain still while slowly taking your breaks off."

The freckly bespectacled girl thought a bit as she ate some of her fruit salad. She swallowed the fruity mix before answering with a question, "And that's all there is to it?"

Sandra remarked gently as she dipped part of the garlic bun into the cup containing the soup, "Essentially, yes. I could help you practice later after work. My engineer says tomorrow we will be running the same train."

Zoey asked curiously, "Could I lead one train tomorrow, Aunt Sandy?"

The blonde woman finished the small piece of dinner roll and sipped some of her soup before she replied caringly, "Of course, sweetheart, just remember to do what I said to do."

Zoey eagerly laughed, "load up before releasing brakes, notch forward slowly!"

To Be Continued


	14. Sisterly Shenanigans at Sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a three fourths. I have a twin-sister, she's a week older than me. Normally I'm the one who gets in trouble or has 'silly ideas' but once in a while Jackie gets an idea of that sort and while at first it might be scary, it always turns out well and we end up making great memories.

This is a story about me, my older twin named Jackie, a shopping cart, and the Arlington Bridge bright and early on a Tuesday in Winnipeg.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" The younger humanoid GP30 asked as she helped her sister push a shopping cart up the sidewalk of the steep bridge spanning the Canadian Pacific railyard.

The older sibling laughed a bit and glanced over at her sister as she quelled jovially, "You said that when we brought a 10 pin bowling ball to 5 pin bowling, and when we got into a movie using a trench coat and a fedora, and also all those times we had switch offs... All of those times worked out totally fine, so Zoe, don't worry so much, you'll fry your motor."

Zoey responded with a nervous chuckle, "Fair, but going down the steepest bridge... in the city... in a shopping cart, I don't know, it just doesn't sound safe at all."

Jacqueline turned to her sister once they got to the end of the steep slope of the sidewalk and looked at how the sun's warm light was just coming up over the horizon, she placed her hand out to feel the wind would be at their backs when going down. She remarked, "Trust me, Zoe, this is going to be fun, and we will survive. Marina and I did this two weeks ago and she and I are both fine. After all, diesels don't die, they just sell us off somewhere else. Now help me get this cart over the traffic fence."

Zoey and Jackie looked both ways before lifting the shopping cart over the short barrier and onto the road.  
The pigtailed older sibling stated, "Alright, Zoey, hop in."

Zoey cautiously got into the shopping cart as her twin held it still. She put her glasses in their case before putting it into the chest pocket of her overalls, and gripped onto the sides of the cart anxiously.

Jackie began running full tilt towards the decline of the bridge, laughing excitedly. As the two reached the ramp, Jackie hopped onto the bottom rack of the cart and gripped onto the push-bar of the cart as it began its fast journey down the bridge, exclaiming, "THIS IS AMAAAAAAAAAZING!"

Zoey exclaimed as she gripped harder onto the cart before screaming in panic, "AAAAAAAAA WE ARE GONNA DIE!"

The two humanoid young diesels went flying down the bridge, noticing both a 55 Dodge and a 1960 Ford pick-up at the lights below, they were going to probably get hit by the vehicles.

Zoey covered her eyes fearfully, frightened that they'd be hurt.

Jackie pushed her right foot on the pavement, making the cart speed up so they flew through the intersection before either vehicle could even hit them.

The cart continued for a bit down Arlington before Jackie tilted the cart slightly making it veer towards a small grassy field, tipping on the curb but making the two girls fly onto the grass unharmed.

Zoey laughed in surprise and remarked, "We almost got crushed but we survived and that was so fun!"

Jackie adjusted her glasses as she proudly remarked, "See, I told ya we'd survive. Anyways, we should do this again sometime, how about Sunday?"

"Gladly!" Zoey responded before she put on her glasses and headed with her sister to the Canadian Pacific yard to start their day of work, leaving the shopping cart behind on the sidewalk.

To Be Continued


	15. The Most Meaningful Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about a month and a three fourths. As of recent I made a friend from New York Central. She's a SW8. Sadly, she will have to go home soon, and I'll probably never see her again. I'll really miss Alice.

This is a story about me, my new friend Alice, a meaningful gift, and where the rivers fork in Winnipeg.

Zoey was excited for today, not only had she been tasked with helping Gregory with work in the Canadian National yard near the Assiniboine and Red River, but she would get to work along side Alice, the visiting SW8 that the little GP30 was already friends with.

The two diesels chattered to each other as they headed through the small yard along Lindsay Avenue that connected the Canadian Pacific to Canadian Northern lines.

"I wonder what we will get to switch, Zoey," the normally quiet little switcher remarked happily. She got to be coupled up front and was leading along the GP30.

Zoey responded with a little chuckle, "Probably grain, coal and lumber, sometimes box cars. It's a small yard anyways, I don't imagine it will stay entirely a train yard forever."

As the two diesels followed the switch to the CNR line, Alice asked, "Why ever not?"

"My Aunt Mildred says that some there's been rumblings about the city trying to buy the land back and shoo us engines out, save for the station of course."

Alice snickered as she trundled along with Zoey, "What would they put in there if they do shoo out the railway? A shopping bazaar?"

"My bet would be on a museum, they can't chase us all out, and the ones of us they catch, well, we'd be on display for the humans." Zoey teased in a voice trying to spook Alice jokingly.

"Ooh, so scary! I wouldn't mind being a display engine. I bet it would be nice." The black and yellow SW8 remarked.

Soon enough, the two had reached the rail yard adjacent to the station. Gregory the GMD 1 was there to greet the two girls. He jovially rang his bell twice before greeting happily, "Good morning, young visitor and my niece Zoey."

Zoey chuckled, "Good morning, Uncle Greg. Any word on if Captain Firecracker is back in Alberta?"

"Oh, he is. And hopefully, he'll stay there."

Alice asked eagerly, "What switching jobs will Zoey and I be doing then, Mr..."

Greg interrupted, "It's just Greg, don't worry too much about formalities, here kid." He continued with his normal friendly tone, "You two girls will be switching coal and lumber. Nothing too exciting. At noon, we take lunch and head to the hotel across the way."

"That's where Zoey and I have been to tea on Sunday," Alice stated with a little smile.

Gregory laughed before stating, "While that is true, us workers like to order some nice hardy minestrone. Puts rivets on the hood."

"Really?"

Zoey remarked to Alice, "That's an expression, Alice, you know, like when it's raining cats and dogs, it's not REALLY raining pets, it's just raining hard."

"Anyways, I'm sure you pair of young ladies are more than capable of doing this work."

"We are!" the two said in unison.

"Wonderful, I'll see you two at noon." Gregory remarked before heading back to the station to switch the passenger cars for both the commuter train and the Super Continental's consist.

Zoey and Alice worked through out the morning, singing railway songs together and making silly train puns, making the morning all that more fun while they rearranged the train cars. Bill was sick of the really bad puns so he just turned up the RTC radio to listen to other conversations on different frequencies.

Alice was lining up some coal hoppers with some other ones as she commented over to Zoey, "Looks like your next train you have to sort is grain. You better hop to it."

Zoey looked over at Alice perplexed, she asked, "I thought we were doing train puns."

"Yes, but you're The Rabbit. I wanted to do a pun suitable to you."

"Oh shoot, I made it not funny, now didn't I? I'm sorry, Alice." Zoey responded sorrily as she headed over to the grain cars that needed sorting.

Alice shifted on her trucks slightly as she asked to Zoey, "Hey... what will happen when I go?"

"Go?" the bespectacled GP30 asked, looking worriedly over at her friend.

The SW8 responded, "When I go back to New York... you'll miss me dreadfully, and I'll miss YOU dreadfully... and... what if I don't want to go? What if I want to stay in Canada?"

Zoey quelled as she stopped her work momentarily, "Alice, I'm sure you have friends and family back in New York City too. They probably miss you, and will miss you if you don't come home."

"It's not the same. You're really nice, everyone here is really nice."

"The winters here though are sure as hell not nice."

The engineer of the GP30 interrupted the two girls as he poked his head out of Zoey's cab and lightly scolded her, "Zoey, language!"

"Sorry, Bill." She apologized before resuming talking to Alice, "I know I'll miss you, but we don't have to stop being friends. We can write letters and use the telephone."

"Y-you'd do that for me?"

The maroon and grey diesel responded happily, "Alice, if some day they let you go even, I'll take you in. After all, you're my friend."

"Awwww, shucks, you're too sweet, Zoe." Alice softly admitted, feeling a lot better about going home.

The whistle for the yard blew, it was lunch time.

Bill remarked, "Now I get to go try some of this amazing soup that Gregory said about." as he clambered out of Zoey's cab and started walking in the group with the other engineers, humanoid engines, and yard workers to head to the Hotel Fort Garry.

Alice shape shifted to her human form and was holding a small cloth bag, she softly offered to Zoey, "I made us some lunch in the CPR break room this morning before we left, want to join me for lunch?"

Zoey twitched nose and focused deeply before becoming her humanoid self, her hair was tied back in a very short puffy ponytail, as it was finally long enough to do so with.

Alice hurried with Zoey up to a small green hill at the edge of the yard over looking the river.   
The two sat down on the grass as the humanoid black clad girl opened up the bag to show two peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwiches, a thermos containing some apple juice, a few Christie cookies, and two peaches.  
She giggled, "I hope you like it. This is some of my favorite human foods to eat."

Zoey glanced into the bag and saw something else, a small wrapped box. She asked confusedly, "Do you eat presents, Alice?"

"A-actually, that's a present... for you."

The brunette took the little box out of the bag and untied the ribbon atop it carefully, curious as to what tiny treasure it held.  
She opened it up and saw a polished brass pocket watch with a white rabbit emblem in a hopping pose upon it. She popped it open and heard the faint ticking of the watch. She looked up at Alice and asked, "... Where did you get this?"

"It's one of my pocket watches. Back home I have a collection. I wanted you to have this one because I want you to remember me and the great times we spent together."

Zoey's eyes welled up with tears of joy before she hugged the smaller girl. Her voice trembled a bit as she softly remarked, "Never change, Alice. Always stay the sweet lovely diesel you are.... thank you."

Alice hugged back, trying not to cry, she softly responded back, "You're the best, Zoey."  
Suddenly Alice's stomach gurgled, interrupting the heartfelt moment.

Zoey let go of Alice and chuckled as she wiped some tears away, "Sounds like your fuel tank is empty... we should probably eat.".

"Agreed!" Alice laughed before the two humanoid diesels began enjoying their lunch

To Be Continued.


	16. Geep Sitting, A Lottie Work To Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about two months. My Aunt Mildred has a relative who is living with us. Her name is Charlotte, but she lets people she's family or friends with call her Lottie. So anyways, Lottie is really into art. She paints, she draws, she knows how to cook, she is apprenticing my Aunt Sandra to become an unlicensed beautician, and she likes to sew outfits. All the clothes she has she has made or modified herself and the ones she made don't look like she made them herself. She's a real all around artist. 

This story is about Lottie, my sister, and an impending Sunday Tea time.

Zoey and her older twin, Jacqueline, woke up late that Friday morning, the two girls had done magnificently on their Thursday challenge and got to enjoy a long weekend. The two could smell the scent of cinnamon and what they thought were pancakes as they hurried from Zoey's bedroom to the kitchen.

Lottie, a humanoid retired Royal Hudson, was making some cinnamon crepes filled with fresh apples. She looked to the two young humanoid GP30s and greeted happily, "Good morning, you two! Sandra and Mildred left me to make sure you two have a good day today. I made us some crepes to start off our day right."

Jackie tiredly remarked as she walked over to the table before sitting where Mildred would normally sit, "They smell delicious."

"Trust me, this has been my favourite since I was your age. Both mental and material age," the blonde woman happily responded as she lifted the last crepe out gently from the pan before placing it on the large plate with the others. She placed some apples upon it before rolling it up and drizzling it with maple syrup. She brought the large plate to the table and set it down. 

Zoey brought over the glass bottle of milk from the fridge and poured a glass for everyone while she asked to Lottie, "Do we have to do breakfast prayer before we eat?" she sat down on her chair atop the phone book she had on the chair.

"Breakfast prayer? Pfft, that's silly. But if you insist..." Lottie chuckled before she sat down at the table, "Here's to the maker, and to all our friends. Now let's not waste a moment, let's dig in."

The two bespectacled girls giggled and began their breakfast. 

Zoey hastily began to scarf down her crepes after the first bite, she was hooked on their taste.

"Ease up there, dearie, you'll get a stomach ache," Lottie warned.

Zoey chuckled and replied apologetically, "I'm sor... HIC!" The second built GMD GP30 began hiccuping uncontrollably.

Jacqueline laughed as she stopped eating, finding her sister's case of the hiccups to be mildly entertaining.

Zoey drank some milk to quell her hiccups, which was effective.

Lottie looked over to the older GP30 and asked curiously, "Jackie, dear, I hear you're accompanying us to tea on Sunday."

"Oh, it's because I made a friend out West. She's a consolidation who worked for Canadian Pacific out there. She wanted to come in to see the 'ol' gals' as she said, since she's retired now."

Lottie dropped her fork on the table in surprise, "Gracious, do you mean Christina? I haven't heard from her in ages."

"I thought I'd come along too to introduce her to some newer engines so she could also have some friends over here in the prairies."

Zoey was surprised too, "You, come to tea? Are you sure?" She always thought of Jackie as one who would pass on Sunday tea.

"Jeez, Zoe, calm down, it's not like I'm going to go to a formal ball or anything," Jackie remarked slightly sternly. She knew while she wasn't exactly Miss Girly Girl, she wanted to go to tea.

The humanoid Royal Hudson inquired happily, "Don't worry, we don't mind the extra company. Do you have something to wear to tea?"

"Nah, just my work clothes I'll wear," the older GP30 remarked with a half laugh

Zoey asked, "Sis, if it's because you only have your work clothes, I don't mind lending you one of my Sunday outfits."

"I don't do sunhats."

Lottie got an idea and happily stated, "I could make something for you to wear, Jacqueline. Just give me an idea of what you'd like, sweetheart."

Jackie ate some crepe as she thought a bit, swallowed and then rattled off as she recounted, "I don't do lace because it feels weird. I don't do silk because it catches against my skin, I don't do big bows, I refuse to go without any sort of bottoms covering my legs, I won't do heels, I don't like gloves, rhinestones are a big no, and PLEASE don't put me in white."

Lottie took a piece of paper towel from the table and took out a pen from her brassier before writing down some ideas she had and doodling up a concept. 

Zoey ate the rest of her breakfast quickly, having had watched the conversation unfold with interest of what the end result would be.

Lottie smiled and replied as she passed the paper napkin to Jacqueline, "I was thinking... maybe something like this. We were going to go to the fabric shop today, but now maybe you could help me make you something."

Jackie looked over the pleated dress with a basic sash, drawn also with black cotton bottoms and a pair of black leather flats. She smiled and responded, "I am so ready for this, this looks mint!"

Lottie chuckled and responded, "Well, I mean, I was going to do it in mint green, your umber curls definitely would look splendid with it."

The older humanoid GP30 blinked, surprised that the slang went over Lottie's head, but she smiled shortly after and responded, "I like green."

After breakfast and the twins getting dressed for the day, Lottie and the two GP30 twins headed to Mitchell Fabrics on Main Street via a cab.  
The store was a sight to behold. Rows upon rows of fabrics, shelves and shelves of thread, and oodles of other sewing notions organized neatly towards the front of the shop.

Lottie approached the counter, the two young humanoid diesels following along, where she greeted the pale grey-skinned woman who was working.   
"Good morning, Beth, it's been a while."

Bethany, a former CP Royal Hudson looked around to make sure her supervisors weren't watching and leaned over the counter to hug her sister. She giggled, "It HAS been a while! I mean, I'm hearing rumours that you've hung up your sewing scissors and traded them in for a salon apron."

"While I might be apprenticing, I would never quit sewing. A lady can never have enough clothes," Lottie replied with laugh. She let go of her sister and responded, "Which is why I'm here. Mildred's eldest niece needs something for tea this Sunday, and I wanted to sew something nice for her. Could you help me find some cotton in a mint green?"

Bethany placed a sign on the counter that read 'Helping a Customer, be back in 5 minutes' and got out from behind the counter to lead the way.

Zoey was distracted by the display with new fabrics as most of the rolls were of artificial fur. She rubbed her hand across the rolls of fabric, surprised that the fake fur was almost as soft as the white arctic fox fur on the hood of her winter jacket. She looked over to see her sister and Lottie were gone now.   
The little brunette was all alone in a fabric store. She grabbed a yard stick for measuring off of one of the cutting tables and used it as a walking stick, venturing into what she saw as a jungle of fabrics.

Jackie and Lottie had followed Bethany to the cottons section. Beth got off the top shelf two rolls of mint green, one was more pastel and the other was more vivid.

"Jacqueline, which one do you think suits you best?"

The first built humanoid GP30 looked at both the fabrics before feeling them both before making her decision. She softly answered, "I would like the more vivid one, please Miss."

"She's got wonderful manners," the auburn humanoid Royal Hudson responded as she put back the lighter coloured fabric, "and she's an adorable young lady."

Jackie smiled softly at the affirmation.

"Do you perchance carry any black wonder fabric?" the blonde humanoid Royal Hudson inquired as she took hold of the roll of mint green fabric, "or black cotton with a bit of wonder fabric?"

"Goodness, no. That's a little too New York, but we do have a lighter cotton in plain black. Perfect for making a basic skirt," Bethany suggested as she walked over to another shelf and pulled down the roll of the thinner cotton fabric.

Jacqueline remarked in a cheery tone, "They're so I don't have to have pantyhose, it's less likely to snag on things."

"That is a very clever idea. I wonder if it may ever catch on," Bethany remarked, "Seeing as only railway engine women are allowed to wear pants, or at least overalls. I am sure that if women could wear denim work slacks we would look wonderful in them."

Lottie responded as she took the second roll of fabric, "Even if it does happen, I wouldn't want wear trousers, I like how skirts feel." She then asked, "Now, do you have any emerald velvet, I need to make a sash."

The sibling of the blonde Royal Hudson remarked as she began to lead the way, "We will have to go upstairs to look, but I'm sure we will find some."

Meanwhile, Zoey was on the upstairs on a cart, pushing it along with her yard stick, glad that no one was upstairs that could stop her.  
"Look out, for Zoey, navigator extraordinaire, is charting out this maze of cloth," she proclaimed to herself before pushing herself past the stairs, she stopped and back tracked a bit with a mischievous smile. She softly chuckled to herself, "I wonder if I could slide down the banister." She went through a bin of scrap fabrics and found a small roll of velvet that she could use to cushion her fall if things went wrong.

Jacqueline looked around, realizing Zoey wasn't following her. She snuck off to try to find her sister. She hurried over to the staircase before seeing her sister sliding down the banister. Jackie ran to her younger sister and stopped her. She softly scolded to her younger sibling, "Zoey! Now isn't the time to be playing. You could get in big trouble!" She looked at the fabric her sister was holding before taking it into her hands.

Zoey responded, "I'm sorry Jackie... I got lost and decided to explore to try to find you, but then ended up playing pretend.."

Lottie and Bethany came up to the stairs, the blonde sibling asked, "Zoey and Jacqueline, what ever are you doing up there?"

Jacqueline stopped Zoey from saying anything, she responded, "Zoey and I found some emerald velvet, like you said you needed, isn't that right, little sis?"

Zoey asked to Bethany, "Can I slide down the banister, I will only do it once."

Bethany laughed and answered, "I'll let both of you slide down the banister."

Zoey and Jackie got on either side of the stairwell, Jackie still holding the fabric, she slid down the right side, while Zoey slid down the left side of the stairs, the two girls reached the bottom of the railing, Zoey landing with a thud, and Jackie having cautiously come to a stop before stepping back onto the steps as she tended to bruise as easily as a banana.  
Zoey laughed, "That was so fun! I wish there were more banisters to slide down."

Jacqueline handed the fabric to Bethany and responded, "Thank you for assisting us, Miss Beth. And letting my twin and I do that."

Bethany hushed the girls with a smile before she remarked, "But this stays our secret, alright?"

The two twins nodded and followed Lottie and Bethany up to the front of the store so Lottie could buy the fabrics.

In a while, when they got back to the apartment; Lottie was setting up her sewing machine, Zoey was getting some leftover carrot soup and garlic toast out of the fridge, enough for the three of them for lunch, while Jackie was in Zoey's room, colouring in a drawing of herself as an engine but instead in similar colours to the fabrics Lottie had picked out.

"Jacqueline, dear, could you come here so I can measure you?" Lottie called out, as finished threading the green thread through the machine. 

The pigtailed brunette entered the living room eagerly and stood beside the humanoid MLW Royal Hudson, waiting to have her measurements taken.

Lottie got out some seamstress' measuring tape and measured Jackie's height first. She softly said, "Wait, you're an inch taller than Zoey?"

Zoey stopped pouring the soup into a pot, and blurted out from the kitchen, "Rub it in that I'm the little sister by age and height."

Jackie teased friendily to her sister, "Aw, come on, it's only an inch, you don't have to sit on a phone book."

"Heck off!" Zoey laughed as she resumed her preparation of lunch.

Lottie giggled and responded to Jackie, "I know how it feels to be tall, one of my sisters was insecure about her height too, mind you, she became the symbol of rail in British Columbia, so I feel she got the better end of the roll."  
She collected a few more measurements from Jackie and noted them down before starting her work on the project, working on the skirt first. She saw Zoey who was bringing the rewarmed soup to the table, and remarked, "Zoey, just serve mine in a mug please with a slice of rye bread, please. I want to work a little."

The shorter brunette got a larger tea cup and ladled a little soup into it and got a piece of rye bread out of the bread box before bring it to Lottie. She then went to the table and sat upon the chair with the phone book on it before Jackie joined her from across the table.

"You really don't have to sit on that thing, I'm not going to make fun of you for being short."

Zoey sighed, "Have you ever considered that maybe I want to be tall?"

"Be careful what you wish for, Zoey... I heard from Cass at CNR that the girl assigned GP30s down in the states get to be like 5 foot 10 when they're fully grown in human form."

The younger brunette answered back with a smile on her face, "Then I hope I get to be taller than you AND have a girlfriend who is into tall girls." She stuck out her tongue at her sister teasingly.

"I just want to be happy when I grow up, and to be able to be whoever I want to be,"

Zoey's face went neutral as she thought about what her sister wanted and responded, "That actually sounds really good, I want that too... and also a girlfriend..."

Jackie laughed at Zoey's statement a little before crushing up some saltines into her carrot soup.

The two girls went to go draw for a while in Zoey's bedroom after lunch, then they played some checkers and did some railway puzzles.   
After maybe a solid 2 hours, the two girls were bored beyond belief. 

"Should we go check on Lottie?" the younger sister asked as she looked over at the door.

The brunette with pigtails stood up and peeked down the hall, hearing the sewing machine whirring. She waved to her sister to join her to see where Lottie was at with the project.

The twin sisters arrived in the living room, to see Lottie working to affix the top half of the dress to the bottom, silently watching her sew the articles together to make the skirt and blouse sections into a complete dress. 

Lottie sewed the two articles together almost entirely before she stopped and took the article off the machine, cutting the threads before she began sewing some pearl-looking plastic buttons that would help hold the dress together. She looked up from her sewing and nearly dropped the button as she saw the girls watching.  
Lottie laughed, "Gracious, girls, you scared me there."

Jacqueline asked, "I was wondering if you needed help with making the dress?"

The humanoid Royal Hudson remarked, "No, I'm almost done, but could you and Zoey do something for me anyways?"

The younger GP30 sister inquired, "What do you need, Lottie?"

"I want you to look in the bottom drawer of the left end table, I keep my ribbon in there. I have some hair-clips from Sandra that I could glue the bows for Jackie to use. I'm looking for emerald green, like the sash."

Zoey walked over and opened the drawer to see rows of spools of ribbon, all in different colours.  
"Wow, this is the most vibrant thing I've ever seen!"  
She pulled out the spool of emerald green ribbon and gave it to Lottie.

"How big would you like the bows for your ponytails, Jacqueline?" Lottie inquired curiously.

Jackie thought for a bit before responding, "Kind of small, but not too small, I want it to look like they're actually tied on."

Lottie took the ribbon, folded it over after pulling a length of it. She cut the ends before sewing the ends on the sewing machine to prevent fraying before she tied the ribbons perfectly into matching bows. She took out of her box of projects to do the hair-clips and some super-glue out of her sewing box and put a small bit of the adhesive on the clips before affixing the bows and pressing down to get them to set to the metallic clips.  
"There, now they just have to set and then they'll be perfect for wearing."

"Thanks, I was worried you'd suggest I do something silly like wear my hair up in some weird beehive or try to ask Sandra to flat iron it," the older GP30 responded with a nervous laugh, as she was not at all keen on either idea.

"Gracious, no. It wouldn't fit the look. I just know some shiny deep green bows would... tie the look together." Lottie responded, giggling at her own pun. She began cutting the fabric for the bottoms when Zoey inquired to Lottie, "How come you like to make stuff so much?"

Lottie shut off the sewing machine and smiled softly before asking the two girls, "Would you like to hear a story?"

The two young humanoid GP30s excitedly let their sitter know they wanted to hear.

"A very long time ago, during the mid 30s, a relatively shiny new engine came for a wipe down after a long run from Montreal. That engine was me, and well, the wiper was 16 at the time, as was I, psychologically... Max was the name this human went by, and they were sure to be gentle with all the engines, but.. especially me. Max had told me that if I was human that they believed that I would be the most beautiful of them all."

Zoey inquired, "They?"

"Oh, Max didn't like going by any terms telling they were a mister unless they absolutely had to. This is why they weren't drafted for the war, which was quite alright with me. Seeing as my engineer and fireman had to go off to kick some Gerry rear-ends, Max and some other person took over as my crew." Lottie sighed dreamily as she paused before continuing to tell, "One night, I showed Max I could turn human... and... that was our first kiss, which lead to our first cuddle, and... once the war was over... we were wed. There was no law stating at the time that no one could marry an engine, especially if she was human at the time. I became Lottie Jewelle, as that was Max's last name."

Jacqueline put one and one together, her smile turning to a blank expression as she waited to hear what would happen to Max.

Zoey asked curiously, "So, what happened to Max when you retired?"

"Well, Zoe... that's the funny thing about humans... they don't live forever. I'm not sure if it was the lead in the paint that Max liked to use to touch me up when they would surprise me with some care, or if it was all the cigarettes they smoked, and trust me, Max smoked more than I do while puffing down the tracks. But... Max passed on about two years ago, as most humans will eventually do..."

The younger brunette looked down sadly, feeling bad Lottie was a widow.

"Young Zoey... Max isn't gone, they might be dead, but never gone. You see... when I visited Max in the hospital for the last time... they told me something very important. Every time I missed them, or anytime I felt lost, that I should make something beautiful, like I already enjoyed, to bring a little bit more brightness back into my life. I created so much after Max died, and now, I create even more because it keeps me going. Max wanted me to be the happiest Royal Hudson in the world, and I'm going to try to make Max proud, as they're looking down on me from the heavens."

Zoey wiped some tears that appeared, moved by the beautiful story.

Jacqueline remarked happily, "That's truly beautiful, Lottie... do you think you'll ever find someone else, someday?"

"Someday, yes... but... not yet. I have to settle into my human life before I start dating more humans," The blonde remarked with a wink before resuming cutting the fabric.  
She suggested to the girls, "I know Mildred and Sandra won't be home for a little while, but, you girls can stay here with me and I can tell you more stories about Max while I finish up this outfit."

The two humanoid GP30s looked at each other and pleaded in unison, "Please tell us more, Lottie!"

Lottie started to pin the fabric together as she began to recount happily, "Well, then... let's see what stories I can tell."

To Be Continued


	17. A Cowgirl Comes to Tea and Sisterly Tensions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about two months now. Aunt Mildred and Aunt Sandra like to go on Sunday to tea at some place called Hotel Fort Garry with some other sophisticated lady engines from town, I've been to tea twice already. I love going to tea, and now, my older twin is coming to tea and bringing a guest from out west. This is so exciting.   
This is a story about me, my sister, Sunday Tea at the Hotel Fort Garry, and a humanoid engine cowgirl.

Alice, Zoey, and Jackie sat at the round table in the round room in the elegant hotel, the other older engines chatting mostly about gossip and work, while these younger three were chatting about Jackie's new friend who would be that would be showing up at noon.

Jackie looked up at a roman numeral clock on the wall as she softly remarked in a sing-songy tone, "Any minute now, she'll be here."

"Who is this engine of mystery?" Alice asked as she fidgeted with one of the ends of the bow on the front of her dress.

The girl in the mint green dress responded as she pointed to the door with her tea spoon, "Christina, she's a Consolidation from out west, she's really cool."

"What's a Consolidation?" Alice inquired before sipping on her iced tea that was served in a tea cup.

The brunette young GP30 in the deep red velvet dress responded, "Think of Walshaert at Canadian National. That's a Consolidation."

"OHHH!" the blonde responded as the information clicked in. 

Jackie was back to watching the clock, her leg bouncing with excitement as she watched the second hand approach the 12. She counted softly, "15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3..."

Her counting ceased as her eyes moved to the entry to the tea room, scanning the lobby for her new friend.

A bespectacled woman clad in a green dress and matching sunhat with skin as white as a pearl, and perfect umber ringlets. Essentially looking like an older version of Jackie, who oddly was wearing polished brown leather boots to tea. 

Jacqueline's leg bounced more with excitement.

"Pardon me, ladies, but is this seat taken?" The woman said with a western Canadian drawl as she pointed over to a chair between Mildred and Jackie.

Mildred stood up and greeted the humanoid steam engine with a hug while saying happily, "Gracious, it's been a while."

Lottie exclaimed not having control over her emotions, "CHRISTINA!!!" She hugged Christina too.

"Well, come on now, Charlotte. It's just me." the humanoid former CP steam engine remarked before she was let go of and able to sit down. She continued with a laugh, "They set me aside and I was all 'nah, I ain't staying here, I'm going to explore. An' then after travelin' around orchard country for awhile, I ended up meetin' this lil' gal," Christina patted Jackie on the head before continuing her statement, "and figured eh, I'm gettin' bored, so why not make the trek east."

Jackie excitedly responded her hands tapping on the table lightly with excitement, "And now you're here!"

Sandra inquired softly as she set down her cup of oolong tea, "So then, Christina, how'd you make the trip out here?"

"How'd I get to Winnipeg? Bit o' hitchhikin' to the mainline in Kamloops, then hoppin' a few freights. Nothin' difficult."

Mildred snickered and responded, "Oh goodness, Christina, had I known I would've set a ticket and some food vouchers aside for you. It's so much more comfortable to travel aboard a passenger train."  
Before the steam engine could get in a word, the deep auburn humanoid FP7 suggested, "When you leave town, I'll make sure that you can travel aboard in the park car."

A waiter approached Christina and inquired, "What tea would you like, miss?"

Christina looked over to Jackie and saw the mixture of milk with a little honey in it, she responded, "I'll have the milk and honey mixture like this little gal over here."

The little humanoid GP30 beamed, her rolemodel ordering the same tea as her made her insides feel all sunny.

Zoey looked over to Christina and softly asked, "... Are you a cowgirl?"

The humanoid Consolidation stifled a bit of a laugh before thoughtfully remarking, "Well... hmm... Shoot, truth be told, never really saw myself that way, but I guess I kinda am. My life is kinda like an ol' western."  
She rested her left arm on the back of her chair, explaining as she took a tea cake with her right hand, "Travelin' around n' all. Goin' where the wind-stroke-rails take me, 'cetera. I guess it could be seen that way, lil' lass."

Zoey smiled at the affirming words, her bliss was short lived.

"She's like the sister I never had!" Jackie blurted out as she hugged Christina from the side.

The youngest brunette bespectacled girl sulked at what she saw as a dig at her.

Jackie explained with a laugh, "I mean like an older sister out west. Don't get your tail number-light cords in a twist."

Zoey huffed, still feeling a little unhappy with the perceived insult, "I don't have rear number lights... you took the only ones."

Alice noticed the tension between the two sisters and decided to say something ridiculous. She blurted out, "Miss Christina, do you shoot cans on a fence like Annie Oakley?"

"Does a diesel need fuel? Now I'm no Roza Shanina, but I'm a decent shot with a Winchester."

Alice responded with a laugh, "I've been mostly been running on human fuel lately, but I get what you mean."

Zoey internally sulked as she sipped her milk and honey mixture, feeling inferior.

The waiter approached Christina with her 'tea' and placed it in front of her gently. He asked, "Anything else, miss?"

Christina thought a bit crossing off in her mind what desserts she would go for but wasn't quite craving. She responded with her western Canadian drawl, "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like a nice piece of chocolate cake."

"We currently have red velvet, death by chocolate, and chocolate mocha bundt readily available." the waiter remarked in an almost manufactured yet polite tone. It was clear the suited man's job felt a bit stale.

Christina smiled as she remarked, "Deathy by chocolate, eh?"

He remarked with a smile, "It's my personal favourite."

Countess chimed in, "It's mine too, when I'm not watching my figure."

"Well hey, if you're gonna die, what better way than by chocolate?" the humanoid Consolidation remarked before taking out of her sunhat a one dollar bill and asked in a more suave tone, "Make sure they don't cut the piece small, sir."

The waiter laughed, happy that this day was at least now one of his better days, accepting the money before heading back to the kitchen to get the piece of cake.

Jackie looked up to Christina in awe, her brown eyes sparkling in amazement.

Zoey stirred her milk-honey mixture a bit, trying not to think about anything, she still felt hurt because of the joke.   
She excused herself and headed to the elevator, being followed shortly after by Alice.   
The two boarded the elevator to talk in private on their way up to the ballroom area.

"Zoey, are you alright? Your sister said something not so nice," the blonde asked, fidgeting with her dress' sash a little, worried about what her friend would say.

The brunette sighed as she leaned against one of the walls of the elevator, "It's so mean... and now today is double awful. You're going home tonight, and now my sister has gone out and replaced me..."

The elevator's doors opened once on the right floor and the two girls exited the elevator to be on the top floor hallway spanning between the ballrooms. 

"We can still write though... Right?"

"It won't be the same, and with my sister being distracted by Annie Oakley down there, I am practically alone in real life."

"What about Marina and Laurence and Scarlet?"

Zoey slumped against the wall and sat down, tears filling her brown eyes, "They're not the same."

Alice sat down next to Zoey and hugged her tightly.

Zoey kicked the floor with the back of her white flats, overwhelmedly whining, "Why must good things go away? It's not fair! I WANT MY SISTER BACK! I WANT YOU TO STAY!"

The humanoid EMD SW8 patted Zoey on the back soothingly, causing Zoey to stop kicking the floor out of frustration and being burnt out by too much happening.  
"There there... I know it's a lot all at once, but, I'm not going home yet, and your sister is still your sister... just... let's try to calm down for a bit." She felt like crying too, but held back her tears so Zoey wouldn't cry more.

Zoey, after a minute of being held, calmed down

Alice asked as she let go of Zoey, "One last dance?"

Zoey stood up, wiped her eyes and in a slightly shaky voice she responded, "That would be nice, thank you..."

Alice stood up and took Zoey's hands, the two, this time, going around and around more slowly, cautiously, then almost hugging each other as they slowed their spin, slow dancing slightly.  
The blonde admitted softly, "You're the best friend I've ever made, Zoey."

Zoey responded back as she held Alice's hand and moved back before moving her arm so she was holding Alice's hand high so she could do a little spin alone, "Likewise, Alice... you're a blessing."  
The two stopped dancing, sitting down on a Victorian style fainting couch in the hallway  
"I... I guess Jackie was probably joking... but... it still hurt, what should I say later?"

Alice thought a bit before suggesting, "... I would say to tell her carefully that you didn't like that joke and that while it may have been a joke, it did sting a bit."

"I guess... what if she tells me I'm being a baby?"

"I'm pretty sure she wouldn't do that... You're made of the same batch, one week apart, I'm sure you can work it out."

The two headed were about to head back downstairs when the elevator door opened, Jackie had come up.

Jacqueline scolded slightly, "What are you two doing? For heck-sakes, you've got everyone downstairs worried."

Zoey admitted, "I needed some cool down time... I... the joke you said."

"What joke?" Jackie remarked, absent-mindedly before stating, "You need to come downstairs... I want to go back to tea and probably you and Alice do too." 

Zoey was starting to get frustrated and remarked, "I don't want to say something that I will regret, like a month and a half ago."

Jackie befuddily asked, "You mean when you asked me about why I was the lucky one who got built a girl and you were built wrong? What's that got to do with anything right now?"

Zoey huffed as she crossed her arms, "Because I'm one sleeper tie away from saying that at least I'm actually staying with my family, and not going shopping for new siblings because you can."

Jackie was about to yell at Zoey for even thinking of saying something like that since CP was the one splitting them up, but she stood silent for a bit before she covered her mouth in shock once she realized the depth of which that Zoey had gotten hurt.  
She admitted sorrily, "Well, fudge, I thought you were just pretending to be offended. I'm really sorry. For future, unless we're actually arguing, I wouldn't mean something like that." She hugged her younger twin, before she let go of her sister and lightly scolded with a smile, "Now you two trouble-makers come back down!"

Alice laughed a bit and her and Zoey followed Jackie back to the elevator and back downstairs so they could hear some stories that Christina would tell about her time on the railway.

To Be Continued


	18. Someone Like Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about two months now. My older twin yesterday really hurt my feelings with a mean joke. While it might not be true, it still hurts that she doesn't seem to like having me around as much, and with Alice going away, I'm getting lonely. Marina's been busy lately because her little sister is in town and Laurence and Scarlet are dating. So last night I wished on a star for a friend who would understand me and would be just like me.  
This is a story about me, a GP unit from Great Northern, a wish come true, and a sunny summer day in Winnipeg.

Zoey, the morning after her tearful farewell to Alice, showed up for work bright and early that morning to see off Christina and Mildred, who were headed eastward.

Jackie hugged Christina. She asked hopefully, "Promise me you'll write."

"'Course I will, I'm not gonna forget ya. I'll be back in Winnipeg before the trees shed," Christina reassured before adjusting her navy riding pants and accepting her suitcase back from Zoey.

Jackie's eyes welled up as the humanoid Consolidation boarded the train near the last cars and went to the park car.

Mildred honked her horn, her sister behind her honking as well. The FP7 called out, "All passengers headed on The Canadian to Kenora and all stops beyond there, please board now, I'm departing in 5 minutes!"

The eldest GP30 turned away to leave when she heard knocking on the glass, she turned around to see Christina in the observation area waving to the two young girls.

Zoey silently waved, feeling still a little spiteful that she had been essentially replaced with someone older and cooler.

The train soon left, and that meant Zoey and Jackie would have to get to work.

The two were divided up for their tasks today, but Zoey got a more interesting task. She was greeting, and showing around, a visiting engine who would be staying for a few minor repairs and helping for about a week or two. She waited on the rail line running parallel to Queen Street for the engine that was coming up along the line from the United States.   
A while passed and Zoey got bored, looking at the wild flowers that grew along side that stretch of track, when she heard a rumble of a diesel engine approaching, she looked up and about 10 metres ahead of her was another GP30.  
Same Cleopatra-esque eyelashes, same nose, same freckles, same lip shape... The most notable differences were the difference in paint, and that this visitor diesel didn't require glasses.

The black and orange diesel greeted happily with a sweet little giggle in her voice, "Good morning, I'm Penelope, Great Northern 3001! It's a pleasure to meet a Canadian GP30, I like your bell and your head lamp."

"Hello Penelope, I'm CP 8201! Better known as Zoey," Zoey remarked. She was surprised a bit by this diesel and asked, "So, you're a GP30? Like me?"

"Mmm-hmm! Well, not all the same, but it is rather exciting to meet you."

Zoey asked as she began to trundle backwards while Penelope followed her, "So, I heard repairs are why you're here, may I ask why?"

"Oh, it's a few things, and with the shops back home overwhelmed with work, they sent me along here." She saw the worry in Zoey's expression before quelling with a laugh, "Nothing serious, just a minor fuel tank drip, and my Leslie S3L is acting a little wonky, and my tail lamp is on the fritz. But all minor things, or at least that's what my older sister tells me."

"You have a sister too?"

The two crossed the rail crossing, heading back towards the Canadian Pacific yards.

Penelope continued, still following Zoey, "I mean... she doesn't really like me all that much... I don't really know what I did wrong, but then again, maybe Robyn doesn't like me."

Zoey thought about yesterday, her compressor kicking on as if to sigh, she remarked, "I know that feeling..." She thought a second, before the two cleared a wye safely, and remarked as they began heading into the Canadian Pacific yard, "Hey, what if while you're here I'm your big sister!" 

Penelope laughed, "Okay, but probably you and I were just made earlier this year, right?"

Zoey remarked blankly, her expression neutral as she factually remarked, "I was made in 61. I've had two years of my life when..." She stopped, she didn't want to tell this stranger she wasn't always a girl, what if Penelope rejected her as a friend. She glanced back and responded, changing subjects as they reached the area by the Weston Shops, "Well, enough of that, welcome to Weston Shops!"

Penelope looked around in awe as she came to a stop. She smiled at seeing other young diesels bustling about and seeing passenger diesels chatting at the fuelling stations. The brown eyed American diesel responded, "This is such a lovely yard. It reminds me of back home but more happier."  
The two began to approach the shops when Penelope asked, "Wait... I don't want to go for repairs just yet..." She pleaded, "I want to see more of the yard."

The maroon and grey GP30 rolled onto the shops turn table and was turned the right way to lead Penelope around. She remarked happily, "Then follow me, Penelope!"

The two headed up and down the yard. Through lines and lines of cars, past the shops, back around to the fuelling station, and down near the station to see Sandra pulling a commuting passenger train through.  
Before the two girls knew it, it was lunch break and their drivers went into the large station on Higgins to have some lunch before the rest of the work day.

Zoey and Penelope headed off onto a siding to talk a little more.   
"So what do you do for fun?"

The black and orange GP30 responded with a laugh, "You'll think it's silly."

Zoey reassured gently as she rolled forward a bit, lightly tapping her coupler on Penelope's, "I promise, I won't judge."

Penelope took a deep breath in and closed her eyes before she shrunk down from her diesel form to be a nine-year-old humanoid diesel girl. She had nearly waist length smooth yet slightly curly brunette hair, with a section in a mini ponytail at the top of her head held together with a golden ribbon. She was wearing black reinforced flats, that looked adorable with her orange lacy dress with a little white mountain goat on the right side of the skirt on one of the pleats. Her neck adorned with a string of plastic pearls and on her right wrist was a bracelet made out of edible pastel coloured beads. She was the epitome of girliness.

Zoey focused deeply and twitched her nose before she shrunk down to being human as well, albeit, a bit embarrassed by her work clothes and her slightly frizzy shoulder length ringlets. She remarked, "I go human too, but I'm certainly not as beautiful as you are."

Penelope smiled as she looked at Zoey, saying what they both were thinking, "We sort of look alike."

"Look alike? I'd kill to have hair like yours. Mine's growing so slow that it'll probably be 2003 before I can tie it in any kind of ponytail," Zoey remarked with a laugh, hiding the fact that she was sad her hair wasn't nearly as nice.

Penelope stated with a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I know something that can help with that, and even still, I think it looks nice on you."

The two girls giggled before heading out of the yard to sit on a bench while continuing their conversation.

Penelope asked, "So, where do you stay at night in the sheds?"

"I used to choose a bay with a window, but now, since there's now someone at home for certain all the time, I sleep in a bed, like a human."

"Get out of town, I want to sleep in a bed someday! I hear they're so comfortable."

"They 100% are, and the best part is, they make pillows that are shaped like animals that are soft and fluffy that you can hold while sleeping," Zoey explained excitedly, slightly swinging her legs while she talked about stuffed animals.

"What kind of soft toy animals do you have then, Zoey?"

"A bear named Winnie, a dog named spot, but mostly I have plush rabbits. I really like rabbits. I have a spotted one named Sir Hops-a-lot, I have a brown bunny with a white tail named Cottontail, and a pink bunny named Guinevere, I have a white rabbit named Alexandra who protects me from nightmares, I have a cream coloured rabbit named Honey, and I have a Bugs Bunny stuffed rabbit."

The humanoid GP30 asked, "How do I go about getting a stuffed animal?"

Zoey remarked, "Come along with me on Saturday, my Aunt Mildred can take us shopping and get you one. Or Charlotte, one of my Aunt Sandy's relatives, could make you one I'm sure." She thought a bit before remarking, "But you have to teach me the secret to getting my hair to grow longer quicker."

"I promise!" Penelope giggled before the girls interlocked their pinky-fingers to signify the promises they were going to uphold.

Sandra stopped on the siding as she looked to Zoey with Penelope and asked, "Hello, Zoey, did you make a new friend?"

Zoey excitedly stood up and ran across the road to see her RS3 aunt. She explained quickly with eagerness, "Her name is Penelope, she's a GP30 like me, but she's from the States, can you please let her come for dinner, please please please?"

Sandra giggled, her teal eyes looking down at her niece before he responded happily, "Of course, sweetie , I don't see why there'd be a problem bringing your friend to dinner."

Zoey hugged her near her coupler and thanked her before running across the road to tell Penelope the great news.

To Be Continued.


	19. Someone Like Me - part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about two months now. Last night I wished on a star for a friend who would understand me and would be just like me, and sure enough my wish came true! I have a new friend named Penelope, she's a GP30 like me.  
This is a story about me, a nest of baby rabbits, Penelope the GP30 from Great Northern, my sister, and a summer's evening in Winnipeg.

Zoey and Penelope, after work, headed to Sandra and Mildred's apartment excitedly, eager to spend time together before dinner.  
The two humanoid diesels ran through the front door of the apartment building, up the stairs and down the hall to the apartment and Zoey knocked on the door.  
"Hey Lottie, it's me! I brough a friend over for dinner."

Lottie, after half a minute, answered the door, she had paint on her arms and a little on her face too.

"What have you been up to?"

Lottie remarked with a smile, "I've been working on a painting." She stopped and looked at the other girl with Zoey before remarking, "Gracious, Jacqueline, you look nice today."

Penelope tilted her head slightly as she confusedly asked, "Who's Jacqueline?"

Zoey explained, "Lottie, this is Penelope. She's a GP30 from the United States. I invited her over for dinner tonight."

Lottie responded apologetically before turning around to let the girls in, "I'm so sorry Penelope. You girls can come in and tell me what you think of my painting."

The two humanoid GP30s headed into the living room to see the canvas upon the easel. The artwork on the canvas was of a sea of pastel green trees and a pastel rainbow Royal Hudson on the tracks pulling a passenger train going past said trees.  
Zoey took note of the number on the locomotive and said with a giggle, "That's you, right?"

"It is. Mind you I'm not painted rainbow in actuality, but, I do like rainbows."

Zoey smiled and looked at the painting more as her new friend remarked, "I think it suits you nicely, Miss Charlotte."  
The GMD brunette remarked to Lottie as she began walking towards the hallway, "I'm going to go show Penelope my model trains, we'll see you at dinner."

The two kids headed to Zoey's room to find Jackie, who had arrived during the afternoon when Lottie was out, looking at some of Zoey's books. She looked up at Zoey and held up a book on world history and asked, "Okay, who's been reading about the Battle of Thermopylae... that's really lame Zoey." She laughed a bit as she noticed the humanoid diesel beside her sister. The eldest GMD GP30 asked with a chuckle, "Oh, are you replacing me?"   
Jackie took the bookmark out of the book and moved it to the chapter on the industrial revolution, which she thought was a lot more interesting than reading about Ancient Greece.

Zoey sighed with an annoyed huffed, "No... she's visiting from the states. She's a GP30, like us."

The eldest GP30 sister dropped the book in shock. She hurried over and asked curiously, "Is this true? Are you one of us?"

Penelope looked up at the taller GMD humanoid and responded silently with a nod. She curtsied slightly as she introduced herself, "I'm Penelope, Penelope Skylar Bell. You must be Zoey's older twin."

"I am. So, what brings you up here?"

The young EMD humanoid diesel walked over to Zoey's vanity and turned the chair around to give herself a place to sit. She explained, "I have some repairs needed and Canadian Pacific will have me doing some work after to test to make sure the repairs are right. Your and Zoey's Aunt Sandra said I could come here for dinner tonight."

Jackie walked over and with a smile, she remarked, "It's an honour to meet one of our American siblings."  
She curiously asked a question that crossed her mind, "Did you dress up this fancy to come here for dinner? It's nothing special, we're just having macaroni and baked chicken fillets."

Penelope laughed before responding, "Goodness, no, these are my work clothes, and OOH! I love macaroni!" She looked over onto Zoey's bed and exclaimed in excitement, "STUFFED ANIMALS!" before she ran over to look at them.

Zoey, though she had wanted to play with her model trains, decided that it would be more fun for the three to go outside and play instead.

The three humanoid GP30s all headed downstairs with a small bowl of cut up carrots and some cherry tomatoes to snack on until dinner time while they played tag out front of the apartment building.  
Zoey was it and was in the midst of running after her sister. She laughed and called out, "I'm faster than you, Jackie! I'll catch you!"

Jackie looked back and stuck out her tongue before leaping over a row of shrubs to evade her sister. 

Penelope saw Jacqueline approaching her and she held her right index finger up to her lips while holding her left hand out to indicate for the humanoid CP 8200 to stop.

Zoey went around the fence and stopped when she saw her sister walking slowly towards Penelope. She softly asked, "Is everything ok, Penelope?"

Penelope pointed to a small burrow by a tree, and softly whispered, "There's baby bunnies here."

The two humanoid GMD GP30s came over to see the what Penelope had found.

Three little baby bunnies were all huddled up together, their tiny noses twitching with curiosity as their big eyes looked up at the three girls.

Zoey remembered the bowl of vegetables on the steps and stood up to go get them.

Jackie looked on in awe at the small creatures before she stated with some sadness in her voice, "Do you think that the local cat might've hurt the mother?"

The younger humanoid GMD diesel responded as she brought the bowl of cherry tomatoes and sliced carrots and sat down with the her sister and her new friend, "Gosh I hope not. Then these poor babies are all alone."

Penelope took a carrot slice, placed it in her palm then slowly held out her hand to one of the baby bunnies, letting them smell the offering.

A small grey-ish brown bunny hobbled out of the burrow to be able to take the piece of carrot from Penelope's hand before darting back into the hole with the piece of vegetable, causing Penelope to giggle quietly.

Jackie laid down facing the nest of baby rabbits and held towards the hole a cherry tomato. Another small rabbit came out, this one with a little white spot on its forehead and a white tummy. It hopped towards Jackie cautiously and stood on it's back paws to smell the miniature tomato.  
Jacqueline gently let the tomato down on the ground before the rabbit began to munch on the offering. She took her chance and gently ran her index finger lightly across the rabbit's left ear. She smiled and almost began to cry at how adorable this tiny creature was.

The baby bunny, once it had eaten the small tomato, hopped back into the rabbit hole.

"I want to try this," Zoey whispered before she took a small piece of carrot and held it like Penelope had and waited.

The third baby bunny poked its head out of the rabbit hole and saw the carrot. It sniffed the air a bit and knew that it's siblings had all survived their venture out. This rabbit was white head to toe with pink eyes.  
Zoey softly whispered, "Oh, my goodness, they're albino."

The little white rabbit hopped cautiously up to the younger humanoid GMD GP30 and sniffed her hand before it hopped into her hand to eat the carrot piece.

The other two girls tried not to express their amazement to not scare the baby bunny out of Zoey's hand.

The bespectacled younger brunette gently, with her other hand, petted the back of the rabbit that had hopped onto her hand.

The rabbit got startled, picked up the last bit of carrot and hurried back into the rabbit hole. It looked back at Zoey for a second and blinked before returning into the rabbit hole.

Zoey placed some more offerings outside the rabbit hole and softly instructed to her sister and her friend, "We should back up to watch in case the mother rabbit comes back, but we can still watch the babies eat food."

Penelope and Jackie agreed, and all 3 girls went back to the steps to watch for the parent of the baby bunnies to come back.

After watching for a solid 10 minutes and scaring away some crows, the girls finally saw the mother rabbit come hopping through the bushes and to the bunny burrow at the front of the tree.

The front door to the apartment opened and Lottie called to the three girls, "Zoey, Jackie, Penelope! It's time for dinner."

Zoey laughed as she picked up the bowl of cherry tomatoes and carrot slices as she said to the others, "I guess we best make like rabbits and hop to dinner."

Jackie rolled her eyes at her sister's rabbit pun.

Penelope responded to Lottie with a smile and stated, "You'll never guess what we discovered."

The three young humanoid GP30s headed upstairs and told Lottie and Sandra all about the baby bunnies while enjoying their dinner.

To Be Continue


	20. Marina and Penelope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about two months now. I made a new friend yesterday! Her name is Penelope and she's a GP30 like Jackie and I. She's here for repairs, and I plan to show her some of my friends when we take her to the shops to be mended.  
This is a story about me, my bestie Marina, Penelope the GP30 from Great Northern, and the Arlington Yard staff.

The orange and black EMD GP30 was lead down the line by the maroon and grey GMD GP30, as they headed into Arlington yard so the American counterpart could be have some minor repairs done.  
The orange diesel remarked as she followed along her Canadian sister, "Hey, Zoey, isn't it a bit early to drop me off?"

Zoey stopped and remarked back to Penelope friendily, "Well, Penelope, I wanted to introduce you to some of my friends before you went in for some repairs."

The two rounded cab diesels soon found Scarlet and Laurence over on a siding talking about going to see Cleopatra when it came out in theatres.  
"Hey you two, how's it going?"

The RS23 looked over to Zoey and exclaimed happily, "Hey Zoe! Haven't seen ya in a while. Laurence and I were talking about seeing a movie together when it finally comes up here." She took notice of the other GP30 and remarked, "Huh... I didn't know that CP ordered you a second sister."

Laurence laughed at Scarlet's silliness slightly before responding, "No, Scarlie, I think she's just a visitor. But hey, maybe one day, huh?"

"I'm happy on Great Northern for now, thank you, Laurence," Penelope responded with a smile.

Scarlet was about to tell the two GP30s about her date with Laurence last night but her radio kicked on and rattled off instructions, "Scarlet and Laurence, you two are needed over in the south side of the yard to rearrange a grainer, over."  
The MLW diesel responded to the two GP30s apologetically, "Sorry gals, we gotta run. Duty calls."   
Scarlet forwarded onto Laurence's coupler, and once the two were holding couplers, the two headed away to go do their work.

Zoey and Penelope headed up the yard to the shops, but stopped short of the Weston yard when Zoey saw her the GP9 that she was friends with. The GMD GP30 exclaimed, "Hey Marina! Do you have a minute?"

The maroon and grey high hood GP unit trundled up to them and took a look at the orange and black diesel before greeting, "Hey Zoe, is this the engine coming into the shops today from elsewhere?"

Penelope peeked at the pretty GP9 and turned a little pink in the cheeks. She softly responded, "Hi, you must be Marina, gosh, I adore your eyes." She couldn't explain it but she could feel her engine skipping a little.

Marina giggled at the kind words of the new GP30, she responded happily, "Oh, that's so sweet, thank you. I think you look quite nice in your Great Northern paintwork. Is your name Penelope?"

"Yep, Penelope Skylar Bell, that's me~!" The American diesel responded with a cheery giggle.

Zoey proceeded to get onto another set of tracks so Marina could better see Penelope. She remarked as she backed onto the line beside her American sister, "So I guess you're helping the shop staff collect engines today, huh, Marina?"

"Yeah, and also gather some tanker cars to bring to the refuel station to refuel that," the blue eyed GMD diesel responded before turning her focus back to the new GP unit, "But I'll make time to make sure your American sister isn't lonely."

Penelope felt tickled pink, she didn't know why but she was rather fond of Marina. She asked curiously, "Marina? When I have some repairs done, would... would you like to come with me and Zoey to do some shopping when there's downtime?"

Zoey's eyes lit up at the mention of it.  
"We should so do that. Unless you don't want to Marina, if so that's ok."

Marina responded, glancing upward slightly before looking back to the beautifully designed diesels, "Well, I mean, while I'm not super keen on being human while I'm blonde, I wouldn't mind spending some time with you two, it might make me feel a little more normal."

Penelope blinked in confusion slowly as she softly asked, "I don't understand."

"This Canadian National F Unit dragged me to Eatons and now I look ridiculous without my extensions." 

Zoey responded, "My Aunt Sandra and my Great Aunt Lottie are beauticians who turned Marina's bad hair day into a look more suitable for her."

"Wait, Sandra can do cosmetology?" Penelope exclaimed with almost stars in her eyes, "Do you think she could do my makeup for Sunday tea?"

Marina smiled and giggled slightly as she replied, "You're adorable, Penelope." She remarked with a friendly smile, "Anyways, Penelope, the nice people down at the shops are waiting for you. Pick a bay and I'll keep you company for parts of the work, just radio to me and I'll be there in a jiffy."

"Thanks, Marina, you're a real gem!" the American GP30 remarked before trundling along blissfully to the shops.

Zoey wanted to tell Marina that she thought Penelope had a slight crush on her friend, but with Penelope going back in a week or so, she decided it would be best to say nothing. She bid friendily to Marina, "Well, I should get going, Bill is waiting down at the station."

"Alright, Zoe, I'll see ya around." Marina responded with her normal friendly smile before she went to help an RS3 who blew out her dynamic braking into a shop bay.

Zoey went along on her merry way to the Higgins station to meet up with her Aunt Sandra and her engineer Bill for a nice relaxing day of commuter trains.

To Be Continued


	21. Penelope Tickled Pink and an Afternoon with Lottie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie and 'Gail who both belong to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about two months now. Recently I made a new friend whose name is Penelope and she's a GP30 like Jackie and I. She came to the Weston Shops for some minor repairs, and now that the week is over, her repairs are done so I plan on letting her sleepover before our big shopping trip on Saturday.  
This is a story about me, Penelope the Great Northern GP30, Penelope's curiosity, Lottie's sewing project, and a fable with truth behind it.

Zoey and Penelope ran up the stairs of the apartment building giggling excitedly.  
It was finally Friday, finally time to plan out their shopping trip with Jackie and Marina tomorrow as well as preparing for Sunday tea and other fun things they'd do on the weekend and after work during the week to come.  
The two young humanoid brunettes opened the door of the apartment and exclaimed, "We're home!!!"

Lottie peeked from the living room to the two girls and remarked, "Hello, you girls are home early, the strawberry and oat square Mildred asked for me to heat up isn't done quite yet."

"Don't worry, Lottie, we can wait a little while," the bespectacled humanoid diesel responded as she walked into the living room to see what her Aunt Sandra's Aunt was working on.

The living room had temporarily been turned into a dress maker's workshop as Lottie was finishing up some orders for three outfits for the upcoming Canadian Pacific Summer Soiree held shortly after Dominion Day, where some of the engines who worked had the chance to rub elbows with the human higher ups of the corporation. The humanoid Royal Hudson still had a few more orders to fill but she would work on them later.

Penelope entered the living room and her eyes fixated on a floor length evening dress. The shimmery pink tulle of the skirt looked so gorgeous with the torso of the dress adorned with a shimmery embroidered pattern of leaves and flowers upon a silk-like fabric. Penelope was in love with the dress.

Lottie giggled slightly as she noticed Penelope's adoration of the pink dress.  
"That one is for Ms. Sunkyst of the SOO Line. She would die if she couldn't wear a single drop of pink."

Zoey asked curiously, "Is she going to the summer ball like Aunt Mildred?"

"Yes, but this dress isn't for that, Zoe, Venus likely is going to wear this to the symphony," Lottie responded before looking to Penelope once more and asking the Great Northern girl, "Penelope, sweetie, would you like a dress like this one? I wouldn't mind."

Penelope went over to some fabrics that were stacked up and ran her hand over it feeling which fabric would suit her best. She settled on the same silk-like material of the dress the SD9 had ordered, the same shimmering pink. 

The blonde humanoid Royal Hudson came over to look at the fabric and responded with a smile, "Simple dress or would you want some tulle?"

Penelope thought for a minute before she answered happily, "Just a little under the skirt, if that's alright, please, it's ok if it's too much to ask."

Lottie responded, "It's not too much to ask. I'll make before tomorrow night. I just need to take some measurements."  
She took out some measuring tape and noted down Penelope's dimensions, noticing they were identical to Zoey's. She put aside the tape once done and got up to get the fabrics, picking out the ones she needed.

Zoey laughed at the two slightly as she responded, "Goodness Lottie, how come you're making dresses for my sisters?"

Lottie set down the fabrics on the couch and then sat down upon the couch beside the fabrics and responded, "I have a story to tell, you girls come sit with me and I'll tell you."

Penelope and Zoey sat on the love-seat, ready to listen attentively to the story from the humanoid steamer.

Lottie began to explain in a reminiscing way, "Well, once upon a time, back when I was still fairly young, the Great Depression was occurring, so beautiful clothes were few and far apart. However, us Royal Hudsons were given pristine paint work as well as being given a secondary humanoid outfit, which was far ritzier than our normal wears. I happened upon an old wood burner out in Ontario whose glory days were over and she was now demoted to yard work. During one of my human form breaks, and I saw her human form, the poor girl had tattered black rags for clothes, the only thing about her that didn't match her tattered look was that she kept her shiny coal black hair in great condition, it was so voluminous. And she also had an amethyst brooch the station secretary she once knew, who was old friends with the dear, had given her."  
The humanoid Royal Hudson continued, "I felt horrible for her, especially since that night was a railway ball..."

"So what did you do?" Zoey asked, worriedly looking up at Lottie, her heart felt bad for the poor 4-4-0 in the story.

Penelope added, her eyes fighting off tears thinking about someone suffering through that, "D-did you help her?"

"Yes, don't worry. I gave her my fancier dress and helped her clean up a bit for the ball. She and I had a marvelous time there, but..." Lottie's tone shifted to a sad tone, "I haven't heard from her in decades... I'm worried she met the fate of the torch, and even still, I cannot remember her name." Lottie wiped a tear away. She smiled weakly and responded, "But, I am very happy that I helped that Baldwin, and if I can make a dress for someone who I feel needs one that makes their inner beauty shine even more, then I'm more than happy to help."

Zoey laughed a bit and asked, "Um, Lottie? How come that seems like the story of Ella Cinderstack? Didn't Mr. Gatsby die before 1938?"

Lottie paused and thought about it before she lightly laughed and responded with a warm smile to the humanoid GMD GP30, "I guess, I sparked that story through me helping that 4-4-0. Also, yes, Mr. Gatsby died in 1922."

Zoey realized how phony the fable was now if Hudsons weren't built before 1937, but she still liked the idea of it, even if she liked the true tale from Lottie even more.

The oven timer let out a little 'ding' to indicate the strawberry oat square was ready.

"Hey, Zoe?" Penelope began to ask to her Canadian sister, "Is Jacqueline joining us tonight for dinner?"

"I think her and her friend Gail are pulling a night shift," Zoey remarked with a laugh, feeling bad that she wasn't able to help her sister so she wouldn't have to work late.

Lottie remarked with a slight laugh as she walked to the kitchen, "Yes, though it could be because of Gail. She doesn't feel right if everything isn't 'just so' at all the industries. After all, I do know my own family."

Penelope shrugged, that meant she got to sleep on Jackie's cot instead of on the floor in a sleeping bag.

Lottie put on some oven mitts and got the oat slice out of the oven before the phone rang.  
"Zoey, could you be a dear and answer that?"

The bespectacled brunette hurried over to the rotary phone and picked up the receiver. In her sweet young voice, the humanoid GP30 greeted cheerily, "Mildred and Sandra's apartment."

"Hello, Zoey, sweetheart," the humanoid RS3 responded over the phone. 

"Hey Aunt Sandy, are you headed home now?"

"I won't be home for dinner tonight, sweetheart, I'm so so sorry," the blonde responded to her lover's niece over the phone. She sighed before remarking, "Countess got vandalized while she was in the park across the street and I am helping the staff make her right again."

"Why would humans do that?! That's so awful!"

"Anyways, sweetie, don't worry your head over what some bad humans did. Most of them are kind hearted and like us engines. I'll be home by 10, be good for Lottie, even though I know you will be."

"Bye Auntie."

"Bye Zoey."

Zoey set down the receiver back onto the top part of the rotary phone.  
She went over to the kitchen table to sulk because no one would be home for dinner and humans were mean to Countess and she was grumpy over how unfair it was.  
"Aunt Sandra's not coming home because humans are jerks. My Canadian sister is working late... I'm so miffed!!! It was supposed to be pictionary night!"

Penelope sat beside Zoey at the table and soothingly placed her hand on her Canadian sister's shoulder.  
"It's ok, I'm sure we could find something else to do, Zoe."

Zoey looked up from her despair to Penelope, the bespectacled girl's eyes both dull with hopelessness yet fiery with frustration.  
She numbly remarked, "Nothing's as fun as family pictionary."

Lottie brought a plate of the homemade granola bars to the table and interjected in proud yet kind way, "You like to pretend, Zoey. You girls could have a mock-Sunday tea here at the dinner table."

Penelope's eyes lit up at the thought, she giggled gleefully, "That sounds so much fun!"

The humanoid GMD GP30, who was still in mourning over the pictionary game that wasn't going to happen, shrugged and sighed, "Sure, I guess."  
She had just grabbed a granola bar, when Penelope took a hold of her hand and began taking Zoey to Zoey's room excitedly. 

"Wait! We haven't eaten yet!"

Penelope stopped and grabbed up a bunch of the granola and strawberry snack in her other arm before she resumed pulling Zoey away, excited to play tea party.

Zoey sat on her bed wincing in pain as Penelope detangled her poofy ringlets.  
"Ow! Why do you have to do my hair for pretend tea, it's PRETEND," the humanoid GMD girl whined, she couldn't enjoy her snack now.

"Yes, but you need to look nice," the orange clad girl retorted as she continued to try to untangle Zoey.  
After a solid five minutes, Penelope had managed to detangle Zoey's wild curls and tamed them into softer waves that came down to about her chest.  
"That's much better, look how much longer it looks," Penelope remarked, knowing from what she already knew, that those words would make Zoey like it a little better. She continued to state with a smile, "I'll go make myself pretty while you put on what you're going to wear," before she darted out of the room and into Sandra and Mildred's room.

The freckly Canadian girl thought nothing of it and went to her closet to get out her deep ruby red dress with the yellow sash so she could switch out of her standard CP overalls.

The humanoid Great Northern engine studied all the makeup on the vanity in the bedroom of Zoey's aunts. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at shades after shades of lipstick, oodles of palettes of eye shadow and blush, and perfumes galore. Penelope reached for the pinkest lipstick she could see and put some on, her heart racing with excitement. 

Lottie, after a solid hour and a half, stopped sewing some of the lace onto the unfinished pink dress and looked up at the kitchen table, neither girl had come to the table to play pretend. She set aside her project, stood up, and walked down the short hallway of the apartment to see what the girls were up to.  
She glanced into Zoey's bedroom to see Zoey waiting on the bed.  
"Zoey, sweetie, you look very nice!" she glanced around the room before asking, "Where's Penelope go?"

Zoey shrugged as she responded, "She nearly ripped out half my hair making it look like this and then she went to Aunt Mildred and Sandy's room to wait for me to change to my dress. She's not back yet though."

Lottie lightly pushed the door to peek in to see what the humanoid engine numbered GN 3001 was up to.

Penelope, was sitting at the desk, applying a pale blue mascara to compliment the light pink blush that she had already put on her cheeks, her chocolate-y hued hair done up in curlers, and her nails had already been painted peony blossom pink.

The scent of rose oil and lavender wafted out of the room as Lottie opened the door more.

Penelope looked to the door as she set down the mascara brush, she sheepishly giggled as she saw Lottie looking at her.  
"I... It wasn't me...?"

Lottie laughed until her sides ached at how adorable Penelope's response was to being caught.  
Once the humanoid Royal Hudson calmed herself she remarked, "Sweetie, what are you trying to do?"

"I saw all this beauty stuff... so I wanted to try it out... We don't have all this nice stuff back home."

Zoey entered the room and covered her nose before looking at Penelope.

Lottie entered the room and opened the window to get some fresh air in. She looked to Zoey before asking, "Zoey, could you be a dear and bring the dress I'm making for Penelope and the needle and thread attached to it? I'll finish it up quickly and then help her with the rest."

Zoey went to go get the dress, she was holding in her laughter, this was as entertaining to see as a game of pictionary.

Lottie got out a blow dryer from the vanity desk where she did her apprentice training and asked to Penelope, "So what look are you trying to go for?"

"I wasn't, I've never tried curlers before, my hair just does loose curls naturally."

"It's going to be really curly now, dear. The way you wound these, my guess is they're going to come up to your shoulders, " Lottie assessed as she looked over how tightly rolled the hair was on the curlers, she plugged in the blow dryer. She picked up a spray bottle that contained a little bit of water and conditioner mixed in it and sprayed it over Penelope's hair before she started to use the dryer to set the curls.

Penelope sat still, realizing that she'd look a bit like Zoey for tonight. She laughed at the thought.

Zoey back to the room with the almost-finished dress and set it down on the bed. She had brought along her book on astrology and decided to look at pictures of constellations, zoning out enough that the sound of the blow dryer didn't bother her so much.

Lottie took a break from styling to quickly finish the simple lace around the hem of the skirt. She hummed some old railroad tunes as she sewed.

Penelope looked back in the mirror to her Canadian sister and Lottie. She asked excitedly as she saw the dress, "Is it almost ready to put on?"

Lottie tied a knot in the thread to keep the tulle and lace in place and cut the dangling threads to neaten up her work. She remarked, "It finally is. Just be careful when you put it on since you have makeup on."

Penelope went behind a changing screen with the pink dress and carefully slipped off her orange dress and pulled on the pink one over top of her cotton tank top and her white cotton shorts. She exited from behind the screen. 

Zoey helped zipper up the back of her sister's dress before she followed Lottie over to the vanity to help take the curlers out of Penelope's hair.

Penelope watched as the two unrolled the curlers, her long brown hair was now short-looking springy curls. She fidgeted with one a bit, surprised how it sprung back into place whenever she pulled it straight.  
Once they were done, she shook her head a bit to feel how weird it felt. She laughed as she glanced to Zoey, "I look like you now!"

Lottie smiled at the two girls and asked, "Now, I'm going to get the iced tea ready, and we can all have some tea, how does that sound?"

Penelope and Zoey both answered happily, "Wonderful."

The three were at the kitchen table having their iced tea when Jackie and her friend came in to stop for something to snack on while they were on their break.  
Jackie looked at her two sisters and blinked in surprise.  
"Um... This isn't normal, 'Gail. Trust me, I don't play pretend."

The humanoid RS3 looked to the three at the table and asked, "Charlotte, could I order a cardigan when I have a chance?"

Lottie set down her tea cup and responded, as if everything was totally normal, "Of course dear, I'm just on a tea break."

Jackie and her teenage humanoid MLW friend took the remaining strawberry homemade granola bars and left.

Zoey was a little embarrassed, but she shrugged it off and returned to having a fun time with her American sister and her great aunt.

To Be Continued


	22. Blossoming Friendships and Sundresses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie who belongs to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for about two months now. Recently I made a new friend whose name is Penelope and she's a GP30 like Jackie and I. She came to the Weston Shops for some minor repairs, and now that the week is over, Jackie, Marina, Penelope and I get to go shopping at the Bay on one of our days off. This is a story about the Hudson Bay Store, clothing, a Red Rider BB gun, and a brilliant plan. 

The four young humanoid diesels hopped off the Winnipeg Metro bus at the Hudson's Bay Store. They had pooled enough money together to go on a little shopping spree, have lunch up at the Paddle Wheel Restaurant, and catch a bus ride back to Euclid so they'd be home in time for Temps Present to see what short films had been made.

Penelope looked up at the large building and excitedly trilled, "This is such a big store! I wish they had nice places like these in Watertown. Fargo's such a far stretch from there for me and I'm not normally allowed to leave the yard for that long."

Marina remarked with a smile as she pulled her faux ponytail over her shoulder, "I hope I find a nice sunhat."

Jackie had one thing on her mind, model trains... well no, two things. Model trains and a sensible new pair of new work boots. She eagerly walked to the main door of the department store and held it open for her sisters and her cousin.

Zoey didn't know what she wanted. She wasn't sure if she wanted some new clothes, another engine, or a new book to read. She just wanted to buy something. 

Jackie turned to the others and remarked happily, "If it's ok, I'm gonna go up to shoes and look for some work boots. I'll catch you later in toys and hobbies where we can meet up before we go to the top floor."

"Awww, you don't want to look at dresses?" Penelope asked with slight sadness. 

"I have a dress already, Pen. One is enough for me."

Marina responded, "Hey, don't worry Penelope, I'll shop clothes with you."

Zoey didn't know who to go with. She looked at her sister and then Penelope and Marina. She answered, "I'll go with Penelope and Marina for a bit and then I'll catch up with you, sis."

Jackie remarked, "Sounds like a plan, see you down here." She headed off towards the shoes blissfully.

Marina lead the way to the escalator. The three girls all hopped on literally to a step and rode up together, excited by how fun the prospect of moving stairs was.

The two humanoid GP30s looked down at the perfume and makeup department as they headed upstairs to the second floor to check out clothing. Marina looked upwards towards the clothing department, smiling blissfully thinking about a robin's egg blue sunhat she saw in a magazine that had a wide brim and a sash ribbon.

The three got to the second floor and Penelope and Marina hurried excitedly to the young ladies department, leaving Zoey to try to catch up to them. The two started looking at clothing racks, holding up clothes to themselves seeing what would work and what just didn't.

"The design is perfect, but I don't like this purple." Marina remarked as she put a dress back and looked through an adjacent rack with more for one in a different colour, holding up a sunset orange one to see how it looked.

Penelope held a blue and grey plaid skirt up to herself and sighed, "Ugh, it won't fit, my hips are too low and not wide enough."

The two humanoid diesels looked at each other and let out a chuckle before they exchanged the clothes they were holding and remarked how much better the choices were swapped.

Zoey sat close by for a bit, watching the two picking out clothes before she started to feel like the third wheel. She looked to her American sister and her friend and asked, "Hey, is it okay if I go see how Jackie's doing?"

The blonde humanoid GP9 remarked as she tried on a sunhat, "Sure, Zoe, we'll see you in a little while." 

The humanoid Canadian GP30 headed back to the escalators and went up a few more floors to toys and hobbies to see what her sister was up to.

Jackie had just walked down the model train aisle for the third time and nothing was really calling out to her. She began to head back towards the escalator to get some boots when she saw it. The toy gun display. Plastic cowboy rifles, cork poppers, cap guns, and at the top of the shelf was the crown jewel that every little kid wanted to almost shoot their eye out with by accident, the lever action carbine Daisy produced Red Ryder BB gun.

Jackie, despite being taller than Zoey, still lacked the height to easily obtain the gun. She thought a bit before she took a slingshot off of a display shelf near by. With a skipping stone she kept at the back of the heel of her boot, she managed to knock the gun off the shelf and was able to pick it up off the ground, patting herself on the back internally for being so resourceful. The bespectacled brunette headed for the counter, the box in hand, with a smile from ear to ear. She went up to the counter, plunked the box down and said proudly, "I would like to buy this, sir."

The sales clerk wasn't impressed by the humanoid GP30's hubris and sneered as he looked down at her, "You're far too young to buy this!"

"I'm a diesel! I should be fine to purchase whatever I feel," Jackie retorted, annoyed this human was trying to tell her what she could and couldn't do.

"If you look like a child, I can't sell you this, THAT'S THE RULES, KID! Now Scram until you're 16!" he ordered, causing Jackie to trudge away grumpily.

Zoey bumped into her grumpy sister and curiously asked, "Hey sis, why the long face?"

The older humanoid GP30 twin remarked with an annoyed sigh, "He won't let me buy a BB gun. I have to be 16 to buy it." 

Zoey got an idea and lead her sister down to the elevator. The two entered and Zoey began to explain her idea. "Ok so what we need to do is get Marina to buy the gun. She could fool the human."

Jackie rolled her eyes and remarked, "You REALLY think he'd fall for that?" 

"I mean, she's the oldest looking of us, it could work,"

The two sisters got to the clothing department and headed straight for the women's fitting rooms.

Penelope looked over herself in a mirror in the fitting room as she called to Marina who was still changing, "You having any luck with those heels and that long high-low?"

Marina responded with a laugh, "Pfft, I look ancient with a skirt this long. That or I look like I'm a modern fashion Victorian. Gotta hide my ankles, you know, otherwise the boys will get stirrings."

Penelope laughed at Marina's joke before she went to change back into the dress she wore into the store.

Zoey and Jackie ran into the dressing room as Marina stepped out to get a better look at herself wearing the clothes that would better suit a librarian perhaps. The younger humanoid GMD GP30 responded, "Oh wow, that looks perfect, Mar."

"Yeah, if I were a granny or something," Marina laughed as she looked at herself in the 3 mirrors that were close to each other. 

Jackie explained, "No, we need you to look old for a bit. I need help getting a Red Ryder gun."

Marina raised an eyebrow at the two. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Not for me. Please Marina, I NEED this gun!"

Marina thought a bit and then tucked the tags of the clothing into the clothes and called out to Penelope, "Hey Pen, I'm gonna be back in a bit, I am gonna go help Zoey and Jackie."

Penelope called out from her fitting room, "That's ok, I'm just having an issue right now with these shoe buckles. Don't worry, I'll be ok, I just need some quiet to think and work."

With that, the three headed upstairs to the toys and hobbies section. Marina leading the way, trying to walk more 'sophisticated' like she had seen some humanoid F-Units do at a fancy railway function, chest out and walking with a hip sway.

Marina approached the desk and with her best grown-up impression, she droned almost in a monotone voice, "Hi, John, right? That's what your name tag says, right? I'd like to purchase a Red Ryder gun, since I heard you gave my little niece Jacqueline dickens for wanting to buy it."

The man was fooled enough that he responded apologetically, "I am so sorry, I didn't know that was your niece."

Marina took the Red Ryder that had been left on the counter by Jackie and pushed it in front of the man, demanding in her adult voice, "Ring it up, kind sir." 

With hardly any hesitation, John keyed up the rifle into his register.

Marina handed him the money for it and walked away with Jackie and Zoey following along.

Once the two got back to the escalator, they headed down giggling excited at how that had worked.

"I can't believe that worked!

"Could you believe the look on his face when I started talking like I was an actual adult?"

Jackie responded, "Anyways, thanks Marina. Now I can be like Christina and practice my aim!"

Zoey however, hadn't found what she was looking for and remarked to her sister, "Hey, Jackie, if you'd like you could use the money Aunt Mildred sent for me to buy yourself new boots, I know you were looking forward to getting a new pair too." 

"No, that's for you, Zoey. I'm sure you'll find something." 

And sure enough, on one of the landings at one of the escalators, there was a stand with clearance stuffed animals from Easter. Baby chicks, white bears with the HBC colours on the bow, and rabbits. Zoey looked at the stuffed animals, her eyes stopping as she looked upon a soft looking white rabbit with brown eyes and a little brown nose. She picked it up and followed her sister and her friend along to the second floor. She had found something finally.

Marina, once she got back to the fitting room and changed back to her normal clothes, helped Penelope with the buckle on the short heels that got stuck on the GN humanoid GP30's right sock. She put back some of the clothes, intending to buy the skirt and the sunhat. Marina and Zoey headed up to the counter while Penelope was putting back some clothes she didn't want. The ginger turned to Zoey and stated as they waited in line, "That's an adorable bunny. What are you gonna name it Zoe?"

Zoey didn't really know what she was going to name her little bunny rabbit. She thought a bit and shrugged before remarking, "Eventually I'll probably figure out a good name."

Before Marina could say a suggestion, the line moved and it was her turn to pay, proudly exchanging her cash for her new hat and a nice skirt.

Penelope, once she paid, headed with the other humanoid GP units upstairs to the Paddlewheel Restaurant, for a well deserved lunch break before they'd head back to Zoey's Aunts' apartment

To Be Continued 


	23. Sundae Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie and 'Gail who both belong to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for two months now. Penelope, Jackie, Lottie, Aunt Mildred, Sandy and I are all going to tea today, which is really exciting because lady humanoid engines from different railways all come together and have tea and tea cakes and talk about work and it's really neat because it brings engines together. I wonder today if there's gonna be any one different at tea besides Penelope.  
This is a story about me, my aunts, Penelope the Great Northern GP30, Jackie, an idea, and a refreshing twist on Sunday Tea.

A sunny Sunday late morning meant one thing for the engines in Winnipeg, a day off from duties. This meant also that for some engines it was Sunday Tea at the Fort Garry Hotel.

Two Duffy's taxis, that had come from Euclid street, pulled up to the steps of the Hotel. Out of one, stepped Mildred, Sandra, and Zoey, dressed elegantly all in cotton dresses with a white sash around the waist.  
While out of the second cab hopped Jackie, proudly wearing her mint green dress, and Penelope, who was wearing her new pink dress Lottie had sewn for her. After the two girls, stepped out Lottie, wearing a dress she designed herself, a white dress with tiny polka dots of varying pastel colours and a sash of pale mauve. The three girls all giddily ran up the stairs together with the humanoid RS3, FP7, and Royal Hudson following behind laughing at the adorableness of the girls eagerness to attend tea.

The three brown eyed brunettes sat beside each other at the long ovular table with some of the other humanoid engines that had already arrived. Jackie sitting in between Zoey and Penelope.

"Good morning, Mildred's nieces and visiting young friend, how has your week been?" Countess, the humanoid 4-4-0, graciously greeted with a warm grandmotherly smile.

Jackie answered to the oldest western Canadian Pacific locomotive, "It's been so busy, but it's been really neat, I mean, Zoe and I have a new sister now, more or less."

Penelope remarked both to one of her Canadian sisters and to the most known engine on the prairies, "Gosh, thanks Jackie. Honestly it's great, I've made friends here in Winnipeg."

Zoey eagerly tapped her hands on the table lightly and lightly leg bounced with excitement. Not only did she like to be a part of what the 'bigger engines' did but she was looking forward to the milk and honey tea as well as the pastries and cakes that were served with tea. She couldn't wait to see what sweet treats she would be able to try today.

Mildred sat down beside Zoey and proudly boasted, "These young diesels, goodness, they are so enthusiastic about coming to our tea meetings, that's a wonderful sign of the future of engine unity."

Sandra, however, sat down a chair away from Jackie and stated delicately, "I really hope so. The Canadian National and Canadian Pacific partnership has never been so strong.

"Aunt Sandra, how come you're not sitting beside Aunt Mildred today?" their youngest Canadian niece asked worriedly as she noticed they weren't sitting together, "Are you two upset at each other?"

While Mildred let out a snicker, the humanoid RS3 quelled the worries of the little GP30, “No, no, sweetie. I just want to save a spot for my older-younger sister. She’s coming today to tea.”

Jackie looked at the humanoid RS3 and in a perplexed tone asked, “How can she be both older and younger?”

“Well, materially speaking, she’s older than me, but psychologically she’s still young. She’s a real gem, Jackie. I think you and your sisters would get along with her just fine.”

Lottie sat down beside Countess and asked, “Is it alright if I sit here, old timer?”

Countess looked at Lottie and with a laugh, she gave the humanoid Hudson a hug. She joked back, “Its fine by me, seeing as you’re still in one piece because I put in a good word for you.”

“Pfft, that’s only because I helped your sister in Ontario out.”

Countess responded back, “Goodness, no, Lott’. You’re a real stand-up gal. I mean, if Walshaert hadn’t made a move, I would’ve probably asked you out.”

Mildred remarked as she rolled her eyes, “Ladies, we have children here. Keep it in your bloomers.”

The four adult humanoid engines laughed a bit, leaving the three younger diesels confused.

In strode a woman with a jet black bob and wearing an overall dress with a short white cotton dress underneath. She was greeted by the four older humanoid engines yelling, “Rockelle!”

The humanoid 4-8-2 laughed and responded, "You know I prefer Rockie though, right?" She turned her chair sideways and sat upon it next to Lottie. She looked to the humanoid MLW steam engine beside her and stated, "Hey Char, it's been a while, huh? How have you been holding up since..." her tone changed to be a little more sympathetic, "since you became a widow?"

Lottie remarked soothingly, "Don't worry, Rock, it's nothing too sensitive to talk about. I'm not looking right now, and while Canadian Pacific laid me off, I am pursuing my passion of art in all its forms and I get to look after Mildred's nieces.

Rockie had heard about Mildred's attempts to have kids and she stated with a laugh after looking at the three humanoid GP30s, "Well Mildred, I knew you wanted one kid, but I mean, do they triple? I mean goodness, three little roses to help bloom?"

Mildred responded with a laugh, "Goodness no, Rockie, I only really received one, Zoey, she's the one in the red dress."

Zoey reached across the table to shake hands with Rockie, who then firmly shook the little hand of the little bespectacled brunette.

"Nice to meet you, Zoey."

The brunette responded happily, "Nice to meet you too!"

"So then who are these other two?" Rockie replied as she let go of the young humanoid diesel's hand.

Jackie introduced herself proudly, "I'm Jacqueline, the class leader of the GP30s, and Zoey's big sister. Thanks for helping pave the way of rail for us younger engines."

Rockelle laughed and remarked, "It was nothing much, it's sad though the era of steam is over, but we know that good kids like you will keep our memory alive."

Penelope greeted softly, "And I'm not from here. I'm Great Northern."

"Hi Great Northern." Rockelle teased.

Penelope laughed a bit as she responded back, "No, no, my name is Penelope. I'm FROM Great Northern."

"Penelope is a much better name for an adorable kid like you than 'Great Northern' is," the retired CN steam engine said with a laugh.

The waiter came by and greeted the ladies politely, "Hello again, railroad ladies. Same as usual?"

Sandra responded to the waiter who looked more like a butler, "Perhaps, we will wait a bit to order our tea, we're just waiting on one more, but we would love some tiny cakes and cookies."

Lottie asked the waiter, "I know everyone is waiting for tea, but could I get a coffee? Two creams, 4 sugars?"

Countess asked curiously as she raised an eyebrow, "Goodness Lottie, when did you start drinking the choice of engineers?"

"Oh, well, Max drank coffee all the time and I got so used to the smell that I tried it one day, and while it's a little pungent in taste, some cream and sugar makes it more palatable," the humanoid Royal Hudson remarked proudly.

The waiter jotted it down on his notepad and responded, "Certainly. I shall see you ladies in a few minutes," before he headed off to the kitchen to bring their tall tiered trays of goodies and Lottie's coffee.

Rockelle, while the other older engines chatted about gossip and work, began telling the young girls about her adventures through the mountains out west when she saw out of the corner of her right eye another young humanoid engine come into the round tea room, falling silent and then looking to the humanoid RS3.

Jackie looked up too and saw who it was. It was her older best friend 'Gail. She ducked under the table out of embarrassment.

"Hey Jackie, isn't that your..." Zoey began saying quietly before she looked to see her sister was kneeling under the table, trying not to be seen. She whispered, "Hey, why are you hiding?"

"Shhhhhhhh! She can't know I come to tea, she won't take me seriously if she finds out I do baby stuff like this." the older GP30 responded quietly before beginning to ramble worriedly in a whisper, "I gotta get out of here somehow and out of this ridiculous dress... She CAN'T see me like this. I'll become a laughing stock.. I'll have to leave town, get a dog, change my name to either Chloe and go work at Canadian National, maybe learn how to play the harmonica."

"Baby stuff? Jackie, most of the engines at this table are mentally over 25," Zoey, in an agitated whispered, said to her sister.

The cheery looking young brunette RS3, donning a strikingly orange sweater the same orange as her eyes with a white pencil skirt, sprinted happily up to Sandra and gave her a hug. 'Gail exclaimed happily, "Sandy! I'm glad to see you again."

Jackie peeked up from under the table briefly, seeing her older friend sit down beside where Sandra was sitting with Sandra beside her.

Everyone around the table went silent as Sandra tapped a spoon against a pitcher of water that was already at the table.

Sandra introduced happily, "Everyone, this is my sister Abi..."

The orange sweatered brunette interrupted gently, "Oh, just call me Gail, sorry for interrupting, Sandy."

"It's alright," The blonde humanoid RS3 responded to her sister before she continued with her introduction, "She's been working here for a week or so now, but I wanted to make her feel welcome in the Winnipeg way."

Countess took out of her purse a little golden lapel pin of a maple leaf and handed it to Abigail, politely greeting, "Welcome, Gail. It'll be wonderful having you on the Arlington Roster and to have you around."

Mildred added jovially, "And you're always welcome to tea."

Gail smiled, surprised by how friendly Winnipeg engines were. She noticed as she looked over, a pair of familiar brunette with brown, bespectacled eyes, peeking from the table.

She excitedly remarked, "Jackie! I didn't know you liked coming to tea!"

Jackie jumped a bit before sitting up right, she had repurposed one of her hair bows into a bowtie while the other was used to hold her hair back in a singular ponytail. She responded with an embarrassed laugh, "I just kind of got dragged along under the promise there'd be cake." She felt like she was going to die, especially if Gail figured out that she liked coming to tea to hear railroad stories, drink milk-honey tea, eat little cakes, and spend time with her sister.

"I think that green looks great on you and..." Gail took a closer look at the eldest GP30 sister and asked, "Are you wearing a bowtie?"

Penelope responded bluntly, "I thought Jackie was wearing a green dress."

Jackie turned red with embarrassment, she looked down at the table and muttered to Penelope, "Thanks.... I didn't want that known..."

Gail reassured politely, "Hey, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm wearing a skirt, it's kind of a nice break from work clothes."

Jackie was relieved that her new friend wasn't judging her, she was still worried that word might slip that Jackie liked Sunday Tea.

"In fact, I love wearing orange," Gail began to explain happily.

She was about to continue talking when the waiter came back pushing a cart with a few three tiered trays of dainties, as well as Lottie's coffee. 

"Looks like there's a new comer to tea," the waiter stated as he moved the trays to the table, acknowledging the orange and white clad young humanoid diesel.

The waiter went around the table, asking the ladies what kind of tea they'd like until he got to Gail. He asked, "And what would you like to drink?"

The humanoid RS3 asked softly, "If it's not too much trouble, could I instead have a vanilla milkshake with some orange juice blended in, please?"

"Certainly, Miss."

Penelope asked curiously, "So, wait... people can order milkshakes.... instead of tea?"

The waiter responded confusedly, "Uh... Why yes, of course you can."

There was some muttering among the humanoid engine ladies at the table before Mildred spoke up.

"Could I change my oolong to a 'White Cow' as they call it down south?"

Sandra chimed in next, "May I have a strawberry shake?"

Penelope and Zoey asked in unison, "May we change ours to strawberry milkshakes too?"

The waiter wrote down the changes as everyone stated what they wanted instead.

Countess asked curiously, "Could you make a maple milkshake?"

Everyone looked at her strangely, except the waiter.

Rockie laughed, "Isn't that a little TOO Patriotic?"

"I love maple though."

Jackie exclaimed excitedly, "Me too, please!"

Lottie was last to say something, "I'll just take two scoops of vanilla ice cream to go with my coffee, sir."

The waiter smiled to the ladies and stated happily, "While this is a change from the usual, I'm more than happy to bring you your frozen drinkable dairy delights... and ice cream," before he began to push the cart back to the kitchen.

Jackie smiled and said with a chuckle as she took the clip-on hair bow off of the collar of her dress, "Looks like Sunday Tea has become Sundae Tea."

Zoey couldn't help but snicker at her sister's pun.

Rockelle had heard the pun and remarked with a laugh, "Now that's adorably funny."

Penelope looked to Gail and asked curiously, "I was going to ask if you're Great Northern too. Seeing as you're wearing orange."

"No, goodness no. But it would be nice to be painted orange, someday," Gail admitted with a smile. She continued cheerily, "I saw you the other day at the apartment when Jackie and I stopped by. It's nice to formally meet you, Miss...."

"Penelope!"

Gail shook hands gently with Penelope before turning her attention to Zoey.

"And you must be Jackie's younger twin. I think once I heard you sing."

Zoey smiled embarrassedly and laughed as she explained, "Yeah..."

"Something like, sand me a man, make him the cutest man car door hook hand... or something like that?" The RS3 asked curiously

"I don't like remembering that time in my life..." Zoey admitted quietly

"Sorry. I'll stop. Regardless, it's nice to formally meet you too."

"It's nice to formally meet you too, Gail."

Just then, the waiter returned with the frozen delights from the kitchen, causing everyone at the table to be excited as they received their milkshakes.

He stated as he placed down the milkshakes to the proper humanoid engines, "I hope you ladies enjoy these splendid milkshakes." He pushed the cart gently along to near by Lottie and gave her her bowl of ice cream and stated, "And ice cream."

Lottie slipped the waiter a 2 dollar bill before she poured some coffee onto her ice cream, earning her a few weird glances. She shrugged and responded to the rest of the table as she ate a spoonful of her concoction, "What? It's actually good."

Zoey laughed softly.

Countess raised up her milkshake and proclaimed happily, "Here's to 'Gail, for helping us discover the delight in taking a break from the formalities and taking the more delightful route."

All the other humanoid engines raised their beverages in approval as the brunette humanoid RS3 felt honoured and happy that she got to be a part of Sunday Tea, before everyone resumed chatting and enjoying in the little desserts and the milkshakes and ice cream.

To Be Continued


	24. Rumours of A Baby Steam Engine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A spin off of the Distorted Diesels series that looks at the young life of Zoey Krolik back when she was just Zoey L. A young GP30 who came out of the closet and is learning about being a young lady diesel with her gay aunts during the 1960s.
> 
> Zoey is the trainsona of the personality of the same name.  
> All characters, excluding Jackie and 'Gail who both belong to EsquimaltNanaimo on dA, in this chapter are my OCs

Welcome back to my stories, and for those of you who don't know though, my name is Zoey L. I'm both a diesel and a young lady, well, no, I've been a GP30 my whole life so far, but I've only been a girl for two months now. Penelope and I are gonna go work in the yards near St. Boniface! That's the French quarter of the city and it's a nice place, especially since there's this place that Aunt Mil takes me to sometimes when I've been a really good little diesel. The place is called Red Top. I know for sure that I'm going to take Penelope with me to there for lunch today. I wonder what interesting news that George will have.  
This is a story about me, Penelope, working in St. Boniface, some amazing food, and speculations of a new steam engine.

The two GP30s rolled eagerly into the yard nestled between a large grain elevator and a mushroom plant.  
Penelope choke slightly at the smell as they passed the two places, remarking with a cough, "This place really stinks!"

Bill, who was in Zoey's cab had a clothes pin on his nose as he too did not care for the stench of this yard.

Thankfully, they would be assigned to help across the river at the station after the lunch break

A freight F-Unit rolled up to them, he looked a little roughed up from some grain spills but he still seemed as chipper as a fresh built.  
"Good morning little diesels! Who's ready to help sort grains the fun way?"

Penelope asked, trying not to breathe in too much through her fan, "... How is it fun when it stinks so bad here?"

"Stinks?" the larger diesel asked, indicating his sense of smell had gone from working there so long. He iterated with a smile, "Just because we don't have a hump yard here doesn't mean we can't get the cars to almost switch themselves."

Zoey asked, "Are you going to teach us how to kick cars?"

"Right-y-o! Or my name wouldn't be Wilford."

Penelope asked curiously, "IS your name Wilford?"

The F-Unit laughed and responded with a smile, "It wasn't until my puella gear tore off in a freak accident, truth be told, I MIGHT have caused that accident on purpose."

Penelope and Zoey could almost feel each other smiling at the fact they met another engine who was modified to become their truest self.

Wilford lead the girls to the south side of the yard where there was a slew of empty grain hoppers everywhere. He instructed, "Now I'm gonna get the grain guys to line up the tracks, and I want you two to kick the cars."  
The F-Unit could see the befuddled expressions on the little diesels' faces so he did his best to explain, "So you start off, pushing the car, you know, like normal, but with your coupler unlocked. Don't worry, the brakes aren't on any of these grain cars, then you throttle up and then you throw on your independents and watch it roll."  
He looked to the bespectacled GP30 and encouraged, "Now, you try, little lady."

Zoey was a bit nervous, she had never done anything like this before but she knew how to hold her coupling bar, since she used to make it pop up and down for her own amusement. She backed up a bit, looking down at the brown and slightly rusty grain hopper, she began towards it and then CLANK! Zoey looked worriedly at her coupler, but was relieved to see she wasn't locked on, but she realized she had stopped.

Wilf chuckled, "Great job, just... for the next try, don't stop." 

The brown eyed GMD diesel chuckled embarrassedly before she continued to push the car. When she saw she was getting too close to the grain elevator, she threw on her brake and watched the empty car roll right into the building and stop almost at the chute.

"Great for a first try!" Wilford proclaimed before he looked to Penelope, encouraging, "Now it's your turn, little Yankee Lady."

Penelope asked, "Wouldn't it be more effective to push them under normally?"

Wilf's engine skipped, recounting some repressed memories, he responded, smiling but pain in his voice, "I wouldn't recommend it... Grain isn't fun to have lodged into all the crevices and cracks of your engine..."

"Duly noted," The Great Northern GP30 responded with a worried expression before she, too, gave it her best shot to kick a car. 

Penelope's grain hopper rolled away from her as she let it go once she had threw on her independent break, ending up in the building and nudging Zoey's car to be right under the chute. 

The workers in the grain elevator filled up the car that was under the chute before Wilf stated to the girls, "Well, you two keep on doing this and I'll collect the filled cars," before he rolled along to the head of the yard and waited for more grain cars.

The girls spent the morning kicking cars and having fun while doing so, even the few times when Penelope for got to hold her coupler in unlock and then needed Bill to help uncouple her from the cars.

Wilford backed onto the line of cars that he sorted while the girls worked and now was all ready to go now.  
The F7 freight puller honked his horn and called back, "Thanks girls for helping me!" before he got onto the Whittier subdivision spur and headed East on his venture to collect more grain cars headed for Ontario.

Zoey asked to Penelope and her engineer, "So, you ready for lunch?"

Bill responded before Penelope could, "Does Countess burn wood? Of course I am."

As the two GP30s headed along southward, Zoey's eyes happened upon a brick station where a train was arriving back and passengers were getting off.

The bespectacled geep longingly looked at the station, wondering how it would feel to work there for a day and go all the way out to Shoal Lake. She rang her bell happily at the thought before carrying on.

After a short trundle, the girls approached the crossing at Marion Street, slowing to a crawl before they turned human, after Bill hopped out of Zoey's cab.

Zoey cursed as she saw the stock yards just east of them, "Drat, we're so far away from Red Top!"

Bill looked up the road to see one of his brother-in-law drive up in a green and yellow Canadian National pick-up truck.

"Hey Bill, you wanted me to give you and your engines a lift to Gus'?" The tanned Polish man asked as he popped the door open to allow Bill to hop in.

"Thanks, Reggie, you're a real champ," Bill stated as he opened the back seat door for his diesels before he hopped into the front seat.

Zoey and Penelope hopped into the back seat happily and greeted Reggie politely in unison, "Hello, Reginald. Thanks for picking us up."

"Now I don't wanna hear more of this Reginald stuff, I'm just Reggie, okay? Now what about you little girlies?" He remarked as he took the truck out of park and began driving westward on Marion. 

Bill answered, "Well, the one in the orange is Penelope, and the one in the maroon and grey is my normal diesel, her name is Zoey."

"What happened to Joe?"

Zoey interrupted worriedly, knowing from what Bill had said about Reggie that Reggie believed solely in the Bible, "He was decommissioned and I was assigned to Bill."

Penelope looked at Zoey who seemed to be running her fingers over her name that was sewn into the chest pocket of her overalls. She looked at her Canadian sister, almost asking with a look about the name that had been mentioned.

The curly haired brunette turned away from Penelope, almost ashamed for Penelope to know her secret. She then felt someone hold her hand, and she looked over to see Penelope mouth to her, "That's okay with me."

Reggie asked to the girls, "So you two are them GP30s, huh?"

"Yessir!" they responded cheerily.

"Is it true that you have dynamic braking like a Caddy, and central air so Billy doesn't die in the heat?"

Zoey responded proudly, "Yes we do."

Reggie asked as he began heading down a street to get to St. Mary's Road, "And I heard rumours EMD made 'em mostly girl diesels. I guess that's good since it seems boy engines like to stir up trouble."

Penelope responded with a giggle, "Well, Mister, girls get in trouble too, but mostly its because we're fighting over who gets the last of the pink paint for a new coat of lipstick."

Bill and Reggie both burst into laughter at Penelope's joke, knowing from having multiple sisters how they seemed to fight over 'silly things' like that.

"And you two probably fight over boys too, right?"

Penelope and Zoey looked at each other and then to Reggie's eyes in the rear-view mirror and they said both in unison, "ICKY!"

Reggie responded, "I guess you two are still young for that. That's alright too," before he resumed paying attention to the road.

Soon enough they pulled up to the restaurant and everyone hopped out of the truck. The two girls rushing ahead eagerly to head in and grab a seat.

Zoey tried to get up onto the stool at the counter but she had trouble doing so.

Bill walked up to Zoey and helped her up onto the stool before helping Penelope up too. He sat down next to his brother-in-law and greeted Gus with a friendly wave.

"Well, look who we have seeing us today!" The Greek fellow exclaimed.

Zoey eagerly responded, "Good Afternoon, Gus! What's new?"

The dark haired fellow set down the glass he was cleaning and responded, "Well I hear word of something Buzunis is doing and it might spark your interest!"

Penelope raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, "Who's Basoonis?"

Bill responded, "That guy who runs some other restaurants, I think his first name is Peter."

Gus responded, "Yep, and he's talking about buying a small train from Pennsylvania to put in the big park out near Tuxedo Town."

Zoey asked curiously, "A train?"

Gus responded, "Yep, and Crown down in Pencil makes coal burners, so it's gonna be a real treat."

Bill asked with a laugh, "I thought steam was over?"

Reggie remarked with a laugh, "Steam is never over! Just ask ol Wally our yard manager engine. He's probably going to be here even long after the B Units come home."

Penelope snickered at the joke the two made.

Zoey was about to say something when her stomach grumbled.

George, who was just returning from his break heard the sound and responded with, "Sounds like you could use some lunch, Zoe. You gonna have the usual?"

The bespectacled brunette exclaimed happily, "Yes please! A veggie gyro, some fries, and a small chocolate malt, please!"

Gus asked to Zoey, "Still not gonna try the chicken yet, huh, kid?"

Zoey remarked, "Maybe next time Aunt Milly brings me here."

Penelope asked softly, "Can I have a veggie gyro too please, Gus? B-but if it's ok, can I just have a cola?"

Gus wrote down the girls' orders and responded with a laugh and a nod before asking the two railroad workers, "What about you guys?"

Reggie and Bill responded in unison, "Fat boys with lots of tomato and 'slaw."

Penelope and Zoey winced in unison, finding merriment however in the fact they both didn't like coleslaw.

George hopped over the counter and headed back into the kitchen proclaiming happily, "Coming right up!"

To Be Continued


End file.
